,  OCT   f1    1931  ^' 


BR    45     .H36    v. A 

Stalker,    James,    1848-1927 

The    life   of   St.    Paul 


HANDBOOKS 


FOR 


BI  BLE     CLASSES 

AND  PRIVATE  STUDENTS. 


EDITED  BY 

REV.  MARCUS   DODS,  D.D., 

AND 

REV.  ALEXANDER  WHYTE,  D.D. 


THE  LIFE  OF  ST.  PAUL.— REV.  JAMES  STALKER,  M.A. 


NEW    YORK: 
SCRIBNER   &   WELFORD,    743-745   BROADWAY. 

1884. 


THE 


LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 


BY 

/ 

REV.  JAMES  STALKER,  M.A.,  Kirkcaldy, 

AUTHOR  OF   "the   LIFE  OF  JESUS   CHRIST." 


NEW     YORK: 
SCRIBNER   &   WELFORD,    743-745    BROADWAY. 

1884. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  I.— HIS   PLACE   IN   HISTORY,  .... 

CHAP.  II.— HIS  UNCONSCIOUS   PREPARATION   FOR   HIS   WORK 

CHAP.  III.— HIS  CONVERSION 

CHAP.  IV.— HIS   GOSPEL, 

CHAP.  v.— THE  WORK   AWAITING  THE   WORKER, 

CHAP.  VI.— HIS  MISSIONARY  TRAVELS,       . 

CHAP.  VII.— HIS  WRITINGS   AND   HIS   CHARACTER, 

CHAP.  VIII.— PICTURE  OF   A   PAULINE  CHURCH, 

CHAP.  IX.— HIS  GREAT   CONTROVERSY,       , 

CHAP.        X. — THE   END, 

HINTS  TO  TEACHERS   AND  QUESTIONS   FOR   PUPILS^ 


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THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 


CHAPTER    I. 

HIS  PLACE  IN  HISTORY, 

Paragraphs  I- 12. 

I,  2.  The  Man  needed  by  the  Time. 

3,  4.  A  Type  of  Christian  Character. 

5-8.  The  Thinker  of  Christianity.  • 

9-12.  The  Missionary  of  the  Gentiles. 


10 


^  T  7:i  p.  r^^  ?ttptt 


^*'^^^v•^V■.:■ 
CHAPTER    I. 
HIS   PLACE   IN   HISTORY. 

1.  There  are  some  men  whose  lives  it  is  impossible  to  study 
without  receiving  the  impression  that  they  were  expressly  sent 
into  the  world  to  do  a  work  required  by  the  juncture  of  history 
on  which  they  fell.  The  story  of  the  Reformation,  for  example, 
cannot  be  read  by  a  devout  mind  without  wonder  at  the  provi- 
dence by  which  such  great  men  as  Luther,  Zwingli,  Calvin,  and 
Knox  were  simultaneously  raised  up  in  different  parts  of  Europe 
to  break  the  yoke  of  the  papacy  and  republish  the  gospel  of 
grace.  When  the  Evangelical  Revival,  after  blessing  England, 
was  about  to  break  into  Scotland  and  end  the  dreary  reign  of 
Moderatism,  there  was  raised  up  in  Thomas  Chalmers  a  mind  of 
such  capacity  as  completely  to  absorb  the  new  movement  into 
itself,  and  of  such  sympathy  and  influence  as  to  diffuse  it  to  every 
corner  of  his  native  land. 

2.  This  impression  is  produced  by  no  life  more  than  by  tha  of 
the  Apostle  Paul.  He  was  given  to  Christianity  when  it  was  in 
its  most  rudimentary  beginnings.  It  was  not  indeed  feeble,  nor 
can  any  mortal  man  be  spoken  of  as  indispensable  to  it ;  for  it 
contained  within  itself  the  vigour  of  a  divine  and  immortal  exist- 
ence, which  could  not  but  have  unfolded  itself  in  the  course  of 
time.  But,  if  we  recognise  that  God  makes  use  of  means  which 
commend  themselves  even  to  our  eyes  as  suited  to  the  ends  He 
has  in  view,  then  we  must  say  that  the  Christian  movement,  at 

the  moment  when  Paul  appeared  upon  the  stage,  was  in  the  utmost 

11 


12  •  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

need  of  a  man  of  extraordinary  endowments,  who,  becoming 
possessed  with  its  genius,  should  incorporate  it  with  the  general 
history  of  the  world ;  and  in  Paul  it  found  the  man  it  needed. 

3.  Christianity  obtained  in  Paul  an  incomparable  Type  of 
Christian  Character.  It  already  indeed  possessed  the  perfect 
model  of  human  character  in  the  person  of  its  Founder.  But  He 
was  not  as  other  men,  because  from  the  beginning  He  had  no 
sinful  imperfection  to  struggle  with  ;  and  Christianity  still  required 
to  show  what  it  could  make  of  imperfect  human  nature.  Paul 
supplied  the  opportunity  of  exhibiting  this.  He  was  naturally  of 
immense  mental  stature  and  force.  He  would  have  been  a 
remarkable  man  even  if  he  had  never  become  a  Christian.  The 
other  apostles  would  have  lived  and  died  in  the  obscurity  of 
Galilee  if  they  had  not  been  lifted  into  prominence  by  the  Chris- 
tian movement ;  but  the  name  of  Saul  of  Tarsus  would  have  been 
remembered  still  in  some  character  or  other  even  if  Christianity 
had  never  existed.  Christianity  got  the  opportunity  in  him  of 
showing  the  world  the  whole  force  that  was  in  it.  Paul  was  aware 
of  this  himself,  though  he  expressed  it  with  perfect  modesty,  when 
he  said,  "  For  this  cause  I  obtained  mercy,  that  in  me  as  chief 
might  Jesus  Christ  show  forth  all  His  long-suffering  for  an 
ensample  of  them  who  should  hereafter  believe  on  Him  to  ever- 
lasting life." 

4.  His  conversion  proved  the  power  of  Christianity  to  overcome 
the  strongest  prejudices  and  to  stamp  its  own  type  on  a  large 
nature  by  a  revolution  both  instantaneous  and  permanent.  Paul's 
was  a  personality  so  strong  and  original  that  no  other  man  could 
have  been  less  expected  to  sink  himself  in  another  ;  but,  from  the 
moment  when  he  came  into  contact  with  Christ,  he  was  so  over- 
mastered with  His  influence  that  he  never  afterwards  had  any 
other  desire  than  to  be  the  mere  echo  and  reflection  of  Him  to 
the  world.  But,  if  Christianity  showed  its  strength  in  making  so 
complete  a  conquest  of  Paul,  it  showed  its  worth  no  less  in  the 
kind  of  man  it  made  of  him  when  he  had  given  himself  up  to  its 


HIS    PLACE    IN    HISTORY.  .  13 

influence.  It  satisfied  the  needs  of  a  peculiarly  hungry  nature, 
and  never  to  the  close  of  his  life  did  he  betray  the  slightest  sense 
that  this  satisfaction  was  abating.  His  constitution  was  originally 
compounded  of  fine  materials,  but  the  spirit  of  Christ  passing 
into  them  raised  them  to  a  pitch  of  excellence  altogether  unique. 
Nor  was  it  ever  doubtful  either  to  himself  or  to  others  that  it  was 
the  influence  of  Christ  which  made  him  what  he  was.  The  truest 
motto  for  his  life  would  be  his  own  saying,  "  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but 
Christ  liveth  in  me."  Indeed,  so  perfectly  was  Christ  formed  in 
him,  that  we  can  now  study  Christ's  character  in  his,  and  beginners 
may  perhaps  learn  even  more  of  Christ  from  studying  Paul's  life 
than  from  studying  Christ's  own.  In  Christ  Himself  there  was  a 
blending  and  softening  of  all  the  excellences  which  makes  His 
greatness  elude  the  glance  of  the  beginner,  just  as  the  very  perfec- 
tion of  Raphael's  painting  makes  it  disappointing  to  an  untrained 
eye  ;  whereas  in  Paul  a  few  of  the  greatest  elements  of  Christian 
character  were  exhibited  with  a  decisiveness  which  no  one  can 
mistake,  just  as  the  most  prominent  characteristics  of  the  painting 
of  Rubens  can  be  appreciated  by  every  spectator. 

5.  Christianity  obtained  in  Paul,  secondly,  a  Great  Thinker. 
This  it  specially  needed  at  the  moment.  Christ  had  departed 
from  the  world,  and  those  whom  He  had  left  to  represent  Him 
were  unlettered  fishermen  and,  for  the  most  part,  men  of  no  intel- 
lectual mark.  In  one  sense  this  fact  reflects  a  peculiar  glory  on 
Christianity,  for  it  shows  that  it  did  not  owe  its  place  as  one  of 
the  great  influences  of  the  world  to  the  abihties  of  its  human 
representatives  :  not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  was  Christianity  established  in  the  earth.  Yet,  as  we  look 
back  now,  we  can  clearly  see  how  essential  it  was  that  an  apostle 
of  a  diflerent  stamp  and  training  should  arise. 

6.  Christ  had  manifested  forth  the  glory  of  the  Father  once  for 
all  and  completed  His  atoning  work.  But  this  was  not  enough. 
It  was  necessary  that  the  meaning  of  His  appearance  should  be 
explained  to  the  world.    Who  was  He  who  had  been  here.^  what 


14  •  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

precisely  was  it  He  had  done  1  To  these  questions  the  original 
apostles  could  give  brief  popular  answers  ;  but  none  of  them  had 
the  intellectual  reach  or  the  educational  training  necessary  to  put 
the  answers  into  a  form  to  satisfy  the  intellect  of  the  world. 
Happily  it  is  not  essential  to  salvation  to  be  able  to  answer  such 
questions  with  scientific  accuracy.  There  are  tens  of  thousands 
who  know  and  believe  that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God  and  died  to 
take  away  sin,  and,  trusting  to  Him  as  their  Saviour,  are  purified 
by  faith,  but  who  could  not  explain  these  statements  at  any  length 
without  falhng  into  mistakes  in  almost  every  sentence.  Yet,  if 
Christianity  was  to  make  an  intellectual  as  well  as  a  moral  con- 
quest of  the  world,  it  was  necessary  for  the  Church  to  have 
accurately  explained  to  her  the  full  glory  of  her  Lord  and  the 
meaning  of  His  saving  work.  Of  course  Jesus  had  Himself  had 
in  His  mind  a  comprehension  both  of  what  He  was  and  of 
what  He  was  doing  which  was  luminous  as  the  sun.  But  it 
was  one  of  the  most  pathetic  aspects  of  His  earthly  ministry  that 
He  could  not  tell  all  His  mind  to  His  followers.  They  were  not 
able  to  bear  it ;  they  were  too  rude  and  limited  to  take  it  in.  He 
had  to  carry  His  deepest  thoughts  out  of  the  world  with  Him 
unuttered,  trusting  with  a  sublime  faith  that  the  Holy  Ghost  would 
lead  His  Church  to  grasp  them  in  the  course  of  its  subsequent 
development.  Even  what  He  did  utter  was  very  imperfectly 
understood.  There  was  one  mind,  it  is  true,  in  the  original  apos- 
toHc  circle  of  the  finest  quality  and  capable  of  soaring  into  the 
rarest  altitudes  of  speculation.  The  words  of  Christ  sank  into  the 
mind  of  John,  and,  after  lying  there  for  half  a  century,  grew  up 
into  the  wonderful  forms  we  inherit  in  his  Gospel  and  Epistles 
But  even  the  mind  of  John  was  not  equal  to  the  exigency  of  the 
Church  ;  it  was  too  fine,  mystical,  unusual.  His  thoughts  to  this 
day  remain  the  property  only  of  the  few  finest  minds.  There  was 
needed  a  thinker  of  broader  and  more  massive  make  to  sketch 
the  first  outlines  of  Christian  doctrine  ;  and  he  was  found  in 
Paul. 
7.  Paul  was  a  born  thinker.     His  mind  was  of  majestic  breadth 


HIS    PLACE    IN    HISTORY.  1 5 

and  force.  It  was  restlessly  busy,  never  able  to  leave  any 
object  with  which  it  had  to  deal  until  it  had  pursued  it  back 
to  its  remotest  causes  and  forward  into  all  its  consequences.  It 
was  not  enough  for  him  to  know  that  Christ  was  the  Son  of  God  ; 
he  had  to  unfold  this  statement  into  its  elements  and  under- 
stand precisely  what  it  meant.  It  was  not  enough  for  him  to 
believe  that  Christ  died  for  sin  ;  he  had  to  go  further  and  inquire 
why  it  was  necessary  that  He  should  do  so  and  how  His  death 
took  sin  away.  But  not  only  had  he  from  nature  this  speculative 
gift ;  his  talent  was  trained  by  education.  The  other  apostles 
were  unlettered  men;  but  he  enjoyed  the  fullest  scholastic 
advantages  of  the  period.  In  the  rabbinical  school  he  learned 
how  to  arrange  and  state  and  defend  his  ideas.  We  have  the 
issue  of  all  this  in  his  Epistles,  which  contain  the  best  explanation 
of  Christianity  possessed  by  the  world.  The  right  way  to  look  at 
them  is  to  regard  them  as  the  continuation  of  Christ's  own 
teaching.  They  contain  the  thoughts  which  Christ  carried  away 
from  the  earth  with  Him  unuttered.  Of  course  Jesus  would  have 
uttered  them  differently  and  far  better.  Paul's  thoughts  have 
everywhere  the  colouring  of  his  own  mental  peculiarities.  But 
the  substance  of  them  is  what  Christ's  must  have  been  if  He  had 
Himself  given  them  expression. 

8.  There  was  one  great  subject  especially  which  Christ  had 
to  leave  unexplained — His  own  death.  He  could  not  explain  it 
before  it  had  taken  place.  This  became  the  leading  topic  of 
Paul's  thinking — to  show  why  it  was  needed  and  what  were  its 
blessed  results.  But  indeed  there  was  no  aspect  of  the  appear- 
ance of  Christ  into  which  his  restlessly  inquiring  mind  did  not 
penetrate.  His  thirteen  Epistles,  when  arranged  in  chronological 
order,  show  that  his  mind  was  constantly  getting  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  subject.  The  progress  of  his  thinking  was  deter- 
mined partly  by  the  natural  progress  of  his  own  experience  in  the 
.  knowledge  of  Christ,  for  he  always  wrote  straight  out  of  his  own 
experience ;  and  partly  by  the  various  forms  of  error  which  he 
had  at  successive  periods^  to  encounter,  and  which  became  a 


1 6  •  THE    LIFE   OF    ST.    PAUL. 

providential  means  of  stimulating  and  developing  his  apprehen- 
sion of  the  truth,  just  as  ever  since  in  the  Christian  Church  the 
rise  of  error  has  been  the  means  of  calling  forth  the  clearest 
statements  of  doctrine.  The  ruling  impulse,  however,  of  his 
thinking,  as  of  his  life,  was  ever  Christ,  and  it  was  his  lifelong 
devotion  to  this  exhaustless  theme  that  made  him  the  Thinker  of 
Christianity. 

9.  Christianity  obtained  in  Paul,  thirdly,  the  Missionary  of  the 
Gentiles.  It  is  rare  to  find  the  highest  speculative  power  united 
with  great  practical  activity  ;  but  they  were  united  in  him.  He 
was  not  only  the  Church's  greatest  thinker,  but  the  very  foremost 
worker  she  has  ever  possessed.  We  have  been  considering  the 
speculative  task  which  was  awaiting  him  when  he  joined  the 
Christian  community;  but  there  was  a  no  less  stupendous 
practical  task  awaiting  him  too.  This  was  the  evangelization  of 
the  Gentile  world. 

10.  One  of  the  great  objects  of  the  appearance  of  Christ  was  to 
break  down  the  wall  of  separation  between  Jew  and  Gentile  and 
make  the  blessings  of  salvation  the  property  of  all  men,  without 
distinction  of  race  or  language.  But  He  was  not  Himself  per- 
mitted to  carry  this  change  into  practical  realisation.  It  was  one 
of  the  strange  limitations  of  His  earthly  life  that  He  was  sent 
only  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel.  It  can  easily  be 
imagined  how  congenial  a  task  it  would  have  been  to  His 
intensely  human  heart  to  carry  the  gospel  beyond  the  limits  of 
Palestine  and  make  it  known  to  nation  after  nation ;  and — if  it 
be  not  too  bold  to  say  so — this  would  certainly  have  been  His 
chosen  career  had  He  been  spared.  But  He  was  cut  off  in  the 
midst  of  His  days  and  had  to  leave  this  task  to  His  followers. 

11.  Before  the  appearance  of  Paul  on  the  scene,  the  execution 
of  this  task  had  been  begun.  Jewish  prejudice  had  been  partially 
broken  down,  the  universal  character  of  Christianity  had  been  in 
some  measure  realised,  and  Peter  had  admitted  the  first  Gentiles 
into  the  Church  by  baptism.    But  none  of  the  original  apostles 


HIS    PLACE    IX    HISTORY. 


17 


was  equal  to  the  emergency.  None  of  them  was  large-minded 
enough  to  grasp  the  idea  of  the  perfect  equality  of  Jew  and 
Gentile,  and  apply  it  without  flinching  in  all  its  practical  conse- 
quences ;  and  none  of  them  had  the  combination  of  gifts  necessary 
to  attempt  the  conversion  of  the  Gentile  world  on  a  large  scale. 
They  were  Galilean  fishermen,  fit  enough  to  teach  and  preach 
within  the  bounds  of  their  native  Palestine.  But  beyond  Palestine 
lay  the~  great  world  of  Greece  and  Rome  —  the  world  of  vast 
populations,  of  power  and  culture,  of  pleasure  and  business.  It 
needed  a  man  of  unlimited  versatility,  of  education,  of  immense 
human  sympathy  and  breadth,  to  go  out  there  with  the  gospel 
message — a  man  who  could  not  only  be  a  Jew  to  the  Jews,  but  a 
Greek  to  the  Greeks,  a  Roman  to  the  Romans,  a  barbarian  to  the 
barbarians — a  man  who  could  encounter  not  only  rabbis  in  their 
synagogues,  but  proud  magistrates  in  their  courts  and  philo- 
sophers in  the  haunts  of  learning — a  man  who  could  face  travel 
by  land  and  by  sea,  who  could  exhibit  presence  of  mind  in  every 
variety  of  circumstances,  and  would  be  cowed  by  no  difficulties. 
No  man  of  this  size  belonged  to  the  original  apostolic  circle  ;  but 
Christianity  needed  such  an  one,  and  he  was  found  in  Paul. 

12.  Originally  attached  more  strictly  than  any  of  the  other 
apostles  to  the  peculiarities  and  prejudices  of  Jewish  exclusiveness, 
he  cut  his  way  out  of  the  jungle  of  these  prepossessions,  accepted 
the  equality  of  all  men  in  Christ,  and  applied  this  principle  relent- 
lessly in  all  its  issues.  He  gave  his  heart  to  the  Gentile  mission, 
and  the  history-  of  his  life  is  the  history  of  how  true  he  was  to  his 
vocation.  There  was  never  such  singleness  of  eye  and  wholeness 
of  heart.  There  was  never  such  superhuman  and  untiring  energy. 
There  was  never  such  an  accumulation  of  difficulties  victoriously 
met  and  of  sufferings  cheerfully  borne  for  any  cause.  In  him 
Jesus  Christ  went  forth  to  evangelize  the  world,  making  use  of 
his  hands  and  feet,  his  tongue  and  brain  and  heart,  for  doing 
the  work  which  in  His  own  bodily  presence  He  had  not  been 
permitted  by  the  limits  of  His  mission  to  accomplish. 


CHAPTER    II. 

HIS  UNCONSCIOUS  PREPARATION  FOR  HIS  WORK. 

Paragraphs  13-36. 

14-16.  Date  and  Place  of  Birth. 
His  Love  of  Cities. 

17,  18.    IIOltE. 

19-26.  Education. 

19.  Roman  Citizensliip ;  20.  Tent-making;  21,  22.  Know- 
■*-,  ledge   of   Greek   Literature  ;     23-26.     Rabbinical 
Training.      Gamaliel.      Knowledge  of  Old  Testa- 
ment. 
27-30,  Moral  and  Religious  Development. 

28.  The  Law ;    29,  30.   Departure  from  and  Return  to 
Jerusalem. 
31-33.  State  of  the  Christian  Church.     Stephen. 
34-36.  The  Persecutor. 


18 


CHAPTER    II. 

HIS   UNCONSCIOUS   PREPARATION    FOR  HIS  WORK. 

13.  Persons  whose  conversion  takes  place  after  they  are  grown 
up  are  wont  to  look  back  upon  the  period  of  their  life  which  has 
preceded  this  event  with  sorrow  and  shame,  and  to  wish  that  an 
obliterating  hand  might  blot  the  record  of  it  out  of  existence. 
St.  Paul  felt  this  sentiment  strongly ;  to  the  end  of  his  days  he 
was  haunted  by  the  spectres  of  his  lost  years,  and  was  wont  to  say 
that  he  was  the  least  of  all  the  apostles,  whq  was  not  worthy  to 
be  called  an  apostle,  because  he  had  persecmed  the  Church  of 
God.  But  these  sombre  sentiments  are  only  partially  justifiable. 
God's  purposes  are  very  deep,  and  even  in  those  who  know  Him 
not  He  may  be  sowing  seeds  w^hich  will  only  ripen  and  bear  their 
fruit  long  after  their  godless  career  is  over.  Paul  would  never 
have  been  the  man  he  became  or  have  done  the  work  he  did,  if 
he  had  not  in  the  years  preceding  his  conversion  gone  through  a 
course  of  preparation  designed  to  fit  him  for  his  subsequent 
career.  He  knew  not  what  he  was  being  prepared  for  ;  his  own 
intentions  about  his  future  were  different  from  God's ;  but  there 
is  a  divinity  which  shapes  our  ends,  and  it  was  making  him  a 
polished  shaft  for  God's  quiver,  though  he  knew  it  not. 

14.  The  date  of  Paul's  birth  is  not  exactly  known,  but  it  can  be 
settled  with  a  closeness  of  approximation  which  is  sufficient  for 
practical  purposes.  When  in  the  year  33  a.d.  those  who  stoned 
Stephen  laid  down  their  clothes  at  Paul's  feet,  he  was  "a  young 

19 


20  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

man."  This  term  has,  indeed,  in  Greek  as  much  latitude  as  in 
English,  and  may  indicate  any  age  from  something  under  twenty 
to  something  over  thirty.  In  this  case  it  probably  touched  the 
latter  rather  than  the  former  limit ;  for  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  at  this  time,  or  very  soon  after,  he  was  a  member  of  the 
Sanhedrim — an  office  which  no  one  could  hold  who  was  under 
thirty  years  of  age ;  and  the  commission  he  received  from  the 
Sanhedrim  immediately  afterwards  to  persecute  the  Christians 
would  scarcely  have  been  entrusted  to  a  very  young  man.  About 
thirty  years  after  playing  this  sad  part  in  Stephen's  murder,  in 
the  year  62  A.D.,  he  was  lying  in  a  prison  in  Rome  awaiting  sen- 
tence of  death  for  the  same  cause  for  which  Stephen  had  suffered, 
and,  writing  one  of  the  last  of  his  Epistles,  that  to  Philemon, 
he  called  himself  an  old  man.  This  term  also  is  one  of  great 
latitude,  and  a  man  who  had  gone  through  so  many  hardships 
might  well  be  old  before  his  time ;  yet  he  could  scarcely 
have  taken  the  name  of  "Paul  the  aged"  before  sixty  years  of 
age.  These  calculations  lead  us  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
was  born  about  the  same  time  as  Jesus.  When  the  boy  Jesus 
was  playing  in  the  street  of  Nazareth,  the  boy  Paul  was  play- 
ing in  the  streets  of  his  native  town,  away  on  the  other  side 
of  the  ridges  of  Lebanon.  They  seemed  likely  to  have  totally 
diverse  careers.  Yet  by  the  mysterious  arrangement  of  provi- 
dence these  two  lives,  like  streams  flowing  from  opposite 
watersheds,  were  one  day,  as  river  and  tributary,  to  mingle 
together. 

15.  The  place  of  his  birth  was  Tarsus,  the  capital  of  the  pro- 
vince of  Cilicia,  in  the  south-east  of  Asia  Minor.  It  stood  a  few 
miles  from  the  coast,  in  the  midst  of  a  fertile  plain,  and  was  built 
upon  both  banks  of  the  river  Cydnus,  which  descended  to  it  from 
the  neighbouring  Taurus  mountains,  on  whose  snowy  peaks  the 
inhabitants  of  the  town  were  wont,  in  the  summer  evenings,  to 
watch  from  the  flat  roofs  of  their  houses  the  glow  of  the  sunset. 
Not  far  above  the  town  the  river  poured  over  the  rocks  in  a  vast 
cataract,  but  below  this  it  became  navigable,  and  within  the  town 


HIS   UNCONSCIOUS   PREPARATION    FOR    HIS   WORK.         21 

its  banks  were  lined  with  wharves,  on  which  was  piled  the  mer- 
chandise of  many  countries,  while  sailors  and  merchants,  dressed 
in  the  costumes  and  speaking  the  languages  of  different  races, 
were  constantly  to  be  seen  in  the  streets.  The  town  enjoyed  an 
extensive  trade  in  timber,  with  which  the  province  abounded,  and 
in  the  long  fine  hair  of  the  goats  kept  in  thousands  on  the  neigh- 
bouring mountains,  which  was  made  into  a  coarse  kind  of  cloth 
and  manufactured  into  various  articles,  among  which  tents,  such 
as  Paul  was  afterwards  employed  in  sewing,  formed  an  extensive 
article  of  merchandise  all  along  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean. 
Tarsus  was  also  the  centre  of  a  large  transport  trade;  for  behind 
the  town  a  famous  pass,  called  the  Cilician  Gates,  led  up  through 
the  mountains  to  the  central  countries  of  Asia  Minor;  and  Tarsus 
was  the  depot  to  which  the  products  of  these  countries  were 
brought  down  to  be  distributed  over  the  East  and  the  West.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  city  were  numerous  and  wealthy.  The  majority 
of  them  were  native  Cilicians,  but  the  wealthiest  merchants  were 
Greeks.  The  province  was  under  the  sway  of  the  Romans,  the 
signs  of  whose  sovereignty  could  not  be  absent  from  the  capital, 
although  Tarsus  itself  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  self-government. 
The  number  and  variety  of  the  inhabitants  were  still  further 
increased  by  the  fact  that,  like  our  own  Glasgow,  Tarsus  was  not 
only  a  centre  of  commerce,  but  also  a  seat  of  learning.  It  was 
one  of  the  three  principal  university  cities  of  the  period,  the  other 
two  being  Athens  and  Alexandria ;  and  it  was  said  to  surpass  its 
rivals  in  intellectual  eminence.  Students  from  many  countries 
were  seen  in  its  streets,  a  sight  which  could  not  but  awaken 
thoughts  in  youthful  minds  about  the  value  and  the  aims  of 
learning. 

1 6.  Who  does  not  see  how  fit  a  place  this  was  for  the  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles  to  be  born  in  ?  As  he  grew  up,  he  was  being 
unawares  prepared  to  encounter  men  of  every  class  and  race,  to 
sympathize  with  human  nature  in  all  its  varieties,  and  to  look 
with  tolerance  upon  the  most  diverse  habits  and  customs.  In 
after  life  he  was  always  a  lover  of  cities.     Whereas  his  Master 


2  2  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

avoided  Jerusalem  and  loved  to  teach  on  the  mountain-side  or 
the  shore  of  the  lake,  Paul  was  constantly  moving  from  one  great 
city  to  another.  Antioch,  Ephesus,  Athens,  Corinth,  Rome,  the 
capitals  of  the  ancient  world,  were  the  scenes  of  his  activity.  The 
words  of  Jesus  are  redolent  of  the  country,  and  teem  with  pictures 
of  its  still  beauty  or  homely  toil — the  lilies  of  the  field,  the  sheep 
following  the  shepherd,  the  sower  in  the  furrow,  the  fishermen 
drawing  their  nets.  But  the  language  of  Paul  is  impregnated 
with  the  atmosphere  of  the  city  and  alive  with  the  tramp  and 
hurry  of  the  streets.  His  imagery  is  borrowed  from  scenes  of 
human  energy  and  monuments  of  cultivated  life — the  soldier  in 
full  armour,  the  athlete  in  the  arena,  the  building  of  houses  and 
temples,  the  triumphal  procession  of  the  victorious  general.  So 
lasting  arc  the  associations  of  the  boy  in  the  life  of  the  man. 

17.  Paul  had  a  certain  pride  in  the  place  of  his  birth,  as  he 
showed  by  boasting  on  one  occasion  that  he  was  a  citizen  of  no 
mean  city.  He  had  a  heart  formed  by  nature  to  feel  the  warmest 
glow  of  patriotism.  Yet  it  was  not  for  Cilicia  and  Tarsus  that 
this  fire  burned.  He  was  an  alien  in  the  land  of  his  birth.  His 
father  was  one  of  those  numerous  Jews  who  were  scattered  in 
that  age  over  the  cities  of  the  Gentile  world,  engaged  in  trade 
and  commerce.  They  had  left  the  Holy  Land,  but  they  did  not 
forget  it.  They  never  coalesced  with  the  populations  among 
which  they  dwelt,  but,  in  dress,  food,  religion,  and  many  other 
■particulars,  remained  a  peculiar  people.  As  a  rule,  indeed,  they 
were  less  rigid  in  their  religious  views  and  more  tolerant  of  foreign 
customs  than  those  Jews  who  remained  in  Palestine.  But  Paul's 
father  was  not  one  who  had  given  way  to  laxity.  He  belonged  to 
the  straitest  sect  of  his  religion.  It  is  probable  that  he  had  not 
left  Palestine  long  before  his  son's  birth,  for  Paul  calls  himself  a 
Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews — a  name  which  seems  to  have  belonged 
only  to  the  Palestinian  Jews  and  to  those  whose  connection 
with  Palestine  had  continued  very  close.  Of  his  mother  we 
hear  absolutely  nothing,  but  everything  seems  to  indicate  that 


HIS  u^x■o^:scIOUS  preparation  for  his  work.       23 

the  home  in  which  he  was  brought  up  was  one  of  those  out  of 
which  nearly  all  eminent  religious  teachers  have  sprung — a  home 
of  piety,  of  character,  perhaps  of  somewhat  stern  principle,  and  of 
strong  attachment  to  the  peculiarities  of  a  religious  people.  He 
was  imbued  with  its  spirit.  Although  he  could  not  but  receive 
innumerable  and  imperishable  impressions  from  the  city  he  was 
born  in,  the  land  and  the  city  of  his  heart  were  Palestine  and 
Jerusalem  ;  and  the  heroes  of  his  young  imagination  were  not 
Curtius  and  Horatius,  Hercules  and  Achilles,  but  Abraham  and 
Joseph,  IMoses  and  David  and  Ezra.  As  he  looked  back  on  the 
past,  it  was  not  over  the  confused  annals  of  Cilicia  that  he  cast 
his  eyes,  but  he  gazed  up  the  clear  stream  of  Jewish  history  to  its 
sources  in  Ur  of  the  Chaldees  ;  and,  when  he  thought  of  the  future, 
the  vision  Vvdiich  rose  on  him  was  the  kingdom  of  the  IMessiah 
enthroned  in  Jerusalem  and  ruling  the  nations  with  a  rod  of 
iron. 

18,  The  feeling  of  belonging  to  a  spiritual  aristocracy,  elevated 
above  the  majority  of  those  among  whom  he  lived,  would  be 
deepened  in  him  by  what  he  savv'  of  the  religion  of  the  surrounding 
population.  Tarsus  was  the  centre  of  a  species  of  Baal-worship 
of  an  imposing  but  unspeakably  degrading  character,  and  at  cer- 
tain seasons  of  the  year  it  was  the  scene  of  festivals,  which  were 
frequented  by  the  whole  population  of  the  neighbouring  regions, 
and  were  accompanied  with  orgies  of  a  degree  of  moral  abomin- 
ableness  happily  beyond  the  reach  even  of  our  imaginations.  Of 
course  a  boy  could  not  see  the  depths  of  this  mystery  of  iniquity, 
but  he  could  see  enough  to  make  him  turn  from  idolatry  with  the 
scorn  peculiar  to  his  nation,  and  to  make  him  regard  the  little 
synagogue  where  his  family  worshipped  the  Holy  One  of  Israel 
as  far  more  glorious  than  the  gorgeous  temples  of  the  heathen  ; 
and  perhaps  to  these  early  experiences  we  may  trace  back  in 
some  degree  those  convictions  of  the  depths  to  which  human 
nature  can  fall  and  its  need  of  an  omnipotent  redeeming  force 
which  afterwards  fornied  so  fundamental  a  part  of  his  theology 
and  gave  such  a  stimulus  to  his  woik. 


24  THE   LIFE   OF    ST.    PAUL. 

19.  The  time  at  length  arrived  for  deciding  what  occupation 
the  boy  was  to  follow — a  momentous  crisis  in  every  life  ;  and  in 
this  case  much  was  involved  in  the  decision.  Perhaps  the  most 
natural  career  for  him  would  have  been  that  of  a  merchant ;  for 
his  father  was  engaged  in  trade,  the  busy  city  offered  splendid 
prizes  to  mercantile  ambition,  and  the  boy's  own  energy  would 
have  guaranteed  success.  Besides,  his  father  had  an  advantage 
to  give  him  specially  useful  to  a  merchant :  though  a  Jew,  he  was 
a  Roman  citizen,  and  this  right  would  have  given  his  son  protec- 
tion, into  whatever  part  of  the  Roman  world  he  might  have  had 
occasion  to  travel.  How  the  father  got  this  right  we  cannot  tell ; 
it  might  be  bought,  or  won  by  distinguished  service  to  the  state, 
or  acquired  in  several  other  ways  ;  at  all  events  his  son  was  free- 
born.  It  was  a  valuable  privilege,  and  one  which  was  to  prove  of 
great  use  to  Paul,  though  not  in  the  way  in  which  his  father 
might  have  been  expected  to  desire  him  to  make  use  of  it.  But 
it  was  decided  that  he  was  not  to  be  a  merchant.  The 
decision  may  have  been  due  to  his  father's  strong  religious 
views,  or  his  mother's  pious  ambition,  or  his  own  predilections  ; 
but  it  was  resolved  that  he  should  go  to  college  and  become  a 
rabbi — that  is,  a  minister,  a  teacher  and  a  lawyer  all  in  one.  It 
was  a  wise  decision  in  view  of  the  boy's  spirit  and  capabilities, 
and  it  turned  out  to  be  of  infinite  moment  for  the  future  of 
mankind. 

20.  But,  although  he  thus  escaped  the  chances  which  seemed 
likely  to  drift  him  into  a  secular  calling,  yet,  before  going  away 
to  prepare  for  the  sacred  profession,  he  was  to  get  some  insight 
into  business  life  ;  for  it  was  a  rule  among  the  Jews  that  every 
boy,  whatever  might  be  the  profession  he  was  to  follow,  should 
learn  a  trade,  as  a  resource  in  time  of  need.  This  was  a  rule 
with  wisdom  in  it ;  for  it  gave  the  young  employment  at  an  age 
when  too  much  leisure  is  dangerous,  and  acquainted  the  wealthy 
and  the  learned  in  some  degree  with  the  feelings  of  those  who 
have  to  earn  their  bread  with  the  sweat  of  their  brow.  The  trade 
which  he  was  put   to  was  the  commonest  one  in  Tarsus— the 


HIS   UNCONSCIOUS   PREPARATION    FOR   HIS   WORK.  25 

making  of  tents  from  the  goat's-hair  cloth  for  which  the  district 
was  celebrated.  Little  did  he  or  his  father  think,  when  he  began 
to  handle  the  disagreeable  material,  of  what  importance  this 
handicraft  was  to  be  to  him  in  subsequent  years  :  it  became  the 
means  of  his  support  during  his  missionary  journeys,  and,  at  a 
time  when  it  was  essential  that  the  propagators  of  Christianity 
should  be  above  the  suspicion  of  selfish  motives,  enabled  him  to 
maintain  himself  in  a  position  of  noble  independence. 

21.  It  is  a  question  natural  to  ask,  whether,  before  leaving 
home  to  go  and  get  his  training  as  a  rabbi,  Paul  attended  the 
University  of  Tarsus.  Did  he  drink  at  the  wells  of  wisdom  which 
flow  from  Mount  Helicon  before  he  went  to  sit  by  those  which 
spring  from  Mount  Zion  ?  From  the  fact  that  he  makes  two  cr 
three  quotations  from  the  Greek  poets,  it  has  been  inferred  that 
he  was  acquainted  with  the  Avhole  literature  of  Greece.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  has  been  pointed  out  that  his  quotations  are 
brief  and  commonplace,  such  as  any  man  who  spoke  Greek  would 
pick  up  and  use  occasionally  ;  and  the  style  and  vocabulary  of 
his  Episdes  are  not  those  of  the  models  of  Greek  literature,  but 
of  the  Septuagint,  the  Greek  version  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
which  was  then  in  universal  use  amiong  the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion. 
Probably  his  father  would  have  considered  it  sinful  to  allow  his 
son  to  attend  a  heathen  university.  Yet  it  is  not  likely  that  he 
grew  up  in  a  great  seat  of  learning  without  receiving  any  influence 
from  the  academic  tone  of  the  place.  His  speech  at  Athens 
shows  that  he  was  able,  when  he  chose,  to  wield  a  style  much 
more  stately  than  that  of  his  writings,  and  so  keen  a  mind  was 
not  likely  to  remain  in  total  ignorance  of  the  great  monuments  of 
the  language  which  he  spoke. 

22.  There  were  other  impressions  too  which  the  learned  Tarsus 
probably  made  upon  him  :  its  university  was  famous  for  those 
petty  disputes  and  rivalries  which  sometimes  ruffle  the  calm  of 
academical  retreats  ;  and  it  is  possible  that  the  murmur  of  these, 
with  which  the  air  was  often  filled,  may  have  given  the  first 
impulse  to  that  scorn   for  the  tricks  of  the  rhetorician  and  the 


26  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

windy  disputations  of  the  sophist  which  forms  so  marked  a 
feature  in  some  of  his  writings.  The  glances  of  young  eyes  are 
clear  and  sure,  and  even  as  a  boy  he  may  have  perceived  how 
small  may  be  the  souls  of  men  and  how  mean  their  lives,  when 
their  mouths  are  filled  with  the  finest  phraseology. 

23.  The  college  for  the  education  of  Jewish  rabbis  was  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  thither  Paul  was  sent  about  the  age  of  thirteen.  His 
arrival  in  the  Holy  City  may  have  happened  in  the  same  year  in 
which  Jesus,  at  the  age  of  twelve,  first  visited  it,  and  the  over- 
powering emotions  of  the  boy  from  Nazareth  at  the  first  sight  of 
the  capital  of  his  race  may  be  taken  as  an  index  of  the  unrecorded 
experience  of  the  boy  from  Tarsus.  To  every  Jewish  child  of  a 
religious  disposition  Jerusalem  was  the  centre  of  all  things  ;  the 
footsteps  of  prophets  and  kings  echoed  in  its  streets  ;  memories 
sacred  and  sublime  clung  to  its  walls  and  buildings  ;  and  it 
shone  in  the  glamour  of  illimitable  hopes. 

24.  It  chanced  that  at  this  time  the  college  of  Jerusalem  was 
presided  over  by  one  of  the  most  noted  teachers  the  Jews  have 
ever  possessed.  This  was  Gamaliel,  at  whose  feet  Paul  tells  us 
he  was  brought  up.  He  was  called  by  his  contemporaries  the 
Beauty  of  the  Law,  and  is  still  remembered  among  the  Jews  as  the 
Great  Rabbi.  He  was  a  man  of  lofty  character  and  enlightened 
mind,  a  Pharisee  strongly  attached  to  the  traditions  of  the 
fathers,  yet  not  intolerant  or  hostile  to  Greek  culture,  as  some  of 
the  narrower  Pharisees  were.  The  influence  of  such  a  man  on  an 
open  mind  like  Paul's  must  have  been  very  great ;  and,  although 
for  a  time  the  pupil  became  an  intolerant  zealot,  yet  the  master's 
example  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  the  conquest  he 
finally  won  over  prejudice. 

25.  The  course  of  instruction  which  a  rabbi  had  to  undergo  was 
lengthened  and  peculiar.  It  consisted  entirely  of  the  study  of 
the  Scriptures  and  the  comments  of  the  sages  and  masters  upon 
them.  The  words  of  Scripture  and  the  sayings  of  the  wise  were 
committed   to  memory  ;  discussions  were  carried  on  about  dis- 


HIS   UNCONSCIOUS   PREPARATION    FOR   HIS   WORK.  27 

puted  points  ;  and  by  a  rapid  fire  of  questions,  which  the  scholars 
were  allowed  to  put  as  well  as  the  masters,  the  wits  of  the 
students  were  sharpened  and  their  views  enlarged.  The  out- 
standing qualities  of  Paul's  intellect,  which  were  conspicuous  in 
his  subsequent  life — his  marvellous  memory,  the  keenness  of 
his  logic,  the  superabundance  of  his  ideas,  and  his  original  way 
of  taking  up  every  subject — first  displayed  themselves  in  this 
school,  and  excited,  v/e  may  well  believe,  the  warm  interest  of 
his  teacher. 

26.  He  himself  learned  much  here  which  was  of  great  moment 
in  his  subsequent  career.  Although  he  was  to  be  specially  the 
missionary  of  the  Gentiles,  he  was  also  a  great  missionary  to  his 
own  people.  In  every  city  he  visited  where  there  were  Jews  he 
made  his  first  public  appearance  in  the  synagogue.  There  his 
training  as  a  rabbi  secured  him  an  opportunity  of  speaking,  and 
his  familiarity  with  Jewish  modes  of  thought  and  reasoning 
enabled  him  to  address  his  audiences  in  the  way  best  fitted  to 
secure  their  attention.  His  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  enabled 
him  to  adduce  proofs  from  an  authority  which  his  hearers 
acknowledged  to  be  supreme.  Besides,  he  was  destined  to  be 
the  great  theologian  of  Christianity,  and  the  principal  writer  of 
the  New  Testament.  Now  the  New  grew  out  of  the  Old  ;  the 
one  is  in  all  its  parts  the  prophecy  and  the  other  the  fulfilment. 
But  it  required  a  mind  saturated  not  only  with  Christianity,  but 
with  the  Old  Testament,  to  bring  this  out ;  and,  at  the  age  when 
the  memory  is  most  retentive,  Paul  acquired  such  a  knowledge  of 
the  Old  Testament  that  everything  it  contains  was  at  his  com- 
mand :  its  phraseology  became  the  language  of  his  thinking  ; 
he  literally  writes  in  quotations,  and  he  quotes  from  all  parts 
with  equal  facility — from  the  Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Psalms. 
Thus  was  the  warrior  equipped  with  the  armour  and  the  weapons 
of  the  Spirit  before  he  knew  in  what  cause  he  was  to  use  them. 

27.  Meantime  what  was  his  moral  and  religious  state  ?  He 
was  learning  to  be  a  religious  teacher ;  was  he  himself  religious  ? 


28  THE   LIFE   OF    ST.    PAUL. 

Not  all  who  are  sent  to  college  by  their  parents  to  prepare  for  the 
sacred  office  are  so,  and  in  every  city  of  the  world  the  path  of 
youth  is  beset  with  temptations  which  may  ruin  life  at  its  very 
commencement.  Some  of  the  greatest  teachers  of  the  Church, 
such  as  St.  Augustine,  have  had  to  look  back  on  half  their  life 
blotted  and  scarred  with  vice  or  crime.  No  such  fall  defaced 
Paul's  early  years.  Whatever  struggles  with  passion  may  have 
raged  in  his  own  breast,  his  conduct  was  always  pure.  Jerusalem 
was  no  very  favourable  place  in  that  age  for  virtue.  It  was  the 
Jerusalem  against  whose  external  sanctity,  but  internal  depravity, 
our  Lord  a  few  years  afterwards  hurled  such  withering  invec- 
tives ;  it  was  the  very  seat  of  hypocrisy,  where  an  able  youth 
might  easily  have  learned  how  to  win  the  rewards  of  religion, 
while  escaping  its  burdens.  But  Paul  was  preserved  amidst 
these  perils,  and  could  afterwards  claim  that  he  had  lived  in 
Jerusalem  from  the  first  in  all  good  conscience. 

28.  He  had  brought  with  him  from  home  the  conviction, 
which  forms  the  basis  of  a  religious  life,  that  the  one  prize 
which  makes  life  worth  living  is  the  love  and  favour  of  God. 
This  conviction  grew  into  a  passionate  longing  as  he  advanced  in 
years,  and  he  asked  his  teachers  hoAv  the  prize  was  to  be  won. 
Their  answer  was  ready — By  the  keeping  of  the  law.  It  was  a 
terrible  answer ;  for  the  Law  meant  not  only  Avhat  we  understand 
by  the  term,  but  also  the  ceremonial  law  of  Moses  and  the 
thousand  and  one  rules  added  to  it  by  the  Jewish  teachers, 
whose  observance  made  life  a  kind  of  purgatory  to  a  tender 
conscience.  But  Paul  was  not  the  man  to  shrink  from  diffi- 
culties. He  had  set  his  heart  upon  winning  God's  favour, 
without  which  this  life  appeared  to  him  a  blank  and  eternity  the 
blackness  of  darkness  ;  and,  if  this  was  the  way  to  the  goal,  he 
was  willing  to  tread  it.  Not  only,  however,  were  his  personal 
hopes  involved  in  this,  the  hopes  of  his  nation  depended  on  it 
too  ;  for  it  was  the  universal  belief  of  his  people  that  the  Messiah 
would  only  come  to  a  nation  keeping  the  law,  and  it  was  even 
said  that,  if  one  man  kept  it  perfectly  for  a  single  day,  his  merit 


HIS    UNCONSCIOUS    PREPARATION    FOR    HIS   WORK.         29 

■would  bring  to  the  earth  the  King  for  whom  they  were  waiting. 
Paul's  rabbinical  training,  then,  culminated  in  the  desire  to 
win  this  prize  of  righteousness,  and  he  left  the  halls  of  sacred 
learning  with  this  as  the  purpose  of  his  life.  The  lonely  student's 
resolution  was  momentous  for  the  world  ;  for  he  was  first  to 
prove  amidst  secret  agonies  that  this  way  of  salvation  was  false, 
and  then  to  teach  his  discovery  to  mankind. 

29.  We  cannot  tell  in  what  year  Paul's  education  at  the  college 
of  Jerusalem  was  finished  or  where  he  went  immediately  after- 
wards. The  young  rabbis,  after  completing  their  studies, 
scattered  in  the  same  way  as  our  own  divinity  students  do,  and 
began  practical  work  in  different  parts  of  the  Jewish  world. 
He  may  have  gone  back  to  his  native  Cilicia  and  held  office 
in  some  synagogue  there.  At  all  events,  he  was  for  some  years 
at  a  distance  from  Jerusalem  and  Palestine  ;  for  these  were  the 
very  years  in  which  fell  the  movement  of  John  the  Baptist  and 
the  ministry  of  Jesus,  and  it  is  certain  that  Paul  could  not  have 
•been  in  the  vicinity  without  being  involved  in  both  of  these 
movements  either  as  a  friend  or  as  a  foe. 

30.  But  before  long  he  returned  to  Jerusalem.  It  was  as 
natural  for  the  highest  rabbinical  talent  to  gravitate  in  those 
times  to  Jerusalem  as  it  is  for  the  highest  literary  and  commercial 
talent  to  gravitate  in  our  times  to  London.  He  arrived  in  the 
capital  of  Judaism  very  soon  after  the  death  of  Jesus  ;  and  we 
can  easily  imagine  the  representations  of  that  event  and  of  the 
career  thereby  terminated  which  he  would  receive  from  his 
Pharisaic  friends.  We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  as  yet  he 
had  any  doubts  about  his  own  religion.  We  gather,  indeed, 
from  his  writings  that  he  had  already  passed  through  severe 
mental  conflicts.  Although  the  conviction  still  stood  fast  in  his 
mind  that  the  blessedness  of  life  was  attainable  only  in  the  favour 
of  God,  yet  his  efforts  to  reach  this  coveted  position  by  the 
observance  of  the  law  had  not  satisfied  him.  On  the  contrary, 
the  more  he  strove  to  keep  the  law  the  more  active  became  the 


10  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

motions  of  sin  within  him  ;  his  conscience  was  becoming  more 
oppressed  with  the  sense  of  guilt,  and  the  peace  of  a  soul  at  rest 
in  God  was  a  prize  which  eluded  his  grasp.  Still  he  did  not 
question  the  teaching  of  the  synagogue.  To  him  as  yet  this  was 
of  one  piece  with  the  history  of  the  Old  Testament,  whence  looked 
down  on  him  the  figures  of  the  saints  and  prophets,  which  were 
a  guarantee  that  the  system  they  represented  must  be  divine,  and 
behind  which  he  saw  the  God  of  Israel  revealing  Himself  in  the 
giving  of  the  law.  The  reason  why  he  had  not  attained  to  peace 
and  fellowship  with  God  was,  he  believed,  because  he  had  not 
struggled  enough  with  the  evil  of  his  nature  or  honoured  enough 
the  precepts  of  the  law.  Was  there  no  service  by  which  he  could 
make  up  for  all  deficiencies,  and  Avin  that  grace  at  last  in  which 
the  great  of  old  had  stood  ?  This  was  the  temper  of  mind  in 
which  he  returned  to  Jerusalem,  and  learned  with  astonishment 
and  indignation  of  the  rise  of  a  sect  which  believed  that  Jesus 
who  had  been  crucified  was  the  Messiah  of  the  Jewish  people. 

31.  Christianity  was  as  yet  only  two  or  three  years  old,  and 
was  growing  very  quietly  in  Jerusalem.  Although  those  who  had 
heard  it  preached  at  Pentecost  had  carried  the  news  of  it  to  their 
homes  in  many  quarters,  its  public  representatives  had  not  yet 
left  the  city  of  its  birth.  At  first  the  authorities  had  been  inclined 
to  persecute  it,  and  checked  its  teachers  when  they  appeared  in 
public.  But  they  had  changed  their  minds  and,  acting  under 
the  advice  of  Gamaliel,  resolved  to  neglect  it,  believing  that  it 
would  die  out,  if  let  alone.  The  Christians,  on  the  other  hand, 
gave  as  little  offence  as  possible  ;  in  the  externals  of  religion  they 
continued  to  be  strict  Jews  and  zealous  of  the  law,  attending 
the  temple  worship,  observing  the  Jewish  ceremonies  and 
respecting  the  ecclesiastical  authorities.  It  was  a  kind  of  truce, 
which  allowed  Christianity  a  little  space  for  secret  growth.  In 
their  upper  rooms  the  brethren  met  to  break  bread  and  pray  to 
their  ascended  Lord.  It  was  the  most  beautiful  spectacle.  The 
new  faith  had  alighted  among  them  like  an  angel,  and  was  shedding 


niS    UNCONSCIOUS    PREPARATION    FOR    HIS    WORK.  3 1 

purity  on  their  souls  from  its  \vings  and  breathing  over  their 
humble  gatherings  the  spirit  of  peace.  Their  love  to  each  other 
was  unbounded  ;  they  v.ere  filled  v/ith  the  inspiring  sense  of 
discovery  ;  and,  as  often  as  they  "met,  their  invisible  Lord  was  in 
their  midst.  It  was  like  heaven  upon  earth.  Whilst  Jerusalem 
around  them  was  going  on  in  its  ordinary  course  of  worldliness 
and  ecclesiastical  asperity,  these  few  humble  souls  were  felicitating 
themselves  with  a  secret  which  they  knew  to  contain  within  it  the 
blessedness  of  mankind  and  the  future  of  the  world. 

32.  But  the  truce  could  not  last,  and  these  scenes  of  peace 
were  soon  to  be  invaded  with  terror  and  bloodshed.  Christianity 
could  not  keep  such  a  truce;  for  there  is  in  it  a  world-conquering 
force  which  impels  it  at  all  risks  to  propagate  itself,  and  the 
fermentation  of  the  new  wine  of  gospel  liberty  was  sure  sooner  or 
later  to  burst  the  forms  of  the  Jewish  law.  At  length  a  man 
arose  in  the  Church  in  whom  these  aggressive  tendencies 
embodied  themselves.  This  was  Stephen,  one  of  the  seven 
deacons  who  had  been  appointed  to  watch  over  the  temporal 
affairs  of  the  Christian  society.  He  was  a  man  full  of  the  Holy 
Gliost  and  possessed  of  capabilities  which  the  brevity  of  hi3 
career  only  permitted  to  suggest,  but  not  to  develop  themselves. 
He  went  from  synagogue  to  synagogue,  preaching  the  Messiah- 
ship  of  Jesus  and  announcing  the  advent  of  freedom  from  the 
yoke  of  the  law.  Champions  of  Jewish  orthodoxy  encountered 
him,  but  were  not  able  to  withstand  his  eloquence  and  holy  zeal. 
Foiled  in  argument,  they  grasped  at  other  weapons,  stirring  up 
the  authorities  and  the  populace  to  murderous  fanaticism. 

33.  One  of  the  synagogues  in  v/hich  these  disputations  took 
place  was  that  of  the  Cilicians,  the  countrymen  of  Paul.  May 
he  have  been  a  rabbi  in  this  synagogue  and  one  of  Stephen's 
opponents  in  argument  ?  At  all  events,  when  the  argument  of 
logic  was  exchanged  for  that  of  violence,  he  was  in  the  front. 
When  the  witnesses  who  cast  the  first  stones  at  Stephen  were 
stripping  for  their  work,  they  laid  down  their  garments  at  his 
feet.    There,  on  the  margin  of  that  wild  scene,  in  the  field  of 


32  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

judicial  murder,  we  see  his  figure,  standing  a  little  apart  and 
sharply  outlined  against  the  mass  of  persecutors  unknown  to 
fame — the  pile  of  many-coloured  robes  at  his  feet,  and  his  eyes 
bent  upon  the  holy  martyr,  who  is  kneeling  in  the  article  of  death 
and  praying  :  "  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge." 

34.  His  zeal  on  this  occasion  brought  Paul  prominently  under 
the  notice  of  the  authorities.  It  probably  procured  him  a  seat  in 
the  Sanhedrim,  where  we  find  him  soon  afterwards  giving  his 
vote  against  the  Christians.  At  all  events,  it  led  to  his  being 
entrusted  with  the  work  of  utterly  uprooting  Christianity,  which 
the  authorities  now  resolved  upon.  He  accepted  their  proposal ; 
for  he  believed  it  to  be  God's  work.  He  saw  more  clearly  than 
any  one  else  what  was  the  drift  of  Christianity  ;  and  it  seemed  to 
him  destined,  if  unchecked,  to  overturn  all  that  he  considered 
most  sacred.  The  repeal  of  the  law  was  in  his  eyes  the  oblitera- 
tion of  the  one  way  of  salvation,  and  faith  in  a  crucified  Messiah 
blasphemy  against  the  divinest  hope  of  Israel.  Besides,  he  had 
a  deep  personal  interest  in  the  task.  Hitherto  he  had  been 
striving  to  please  God,  but  always  felt  his  services  to  come 
short ;  here  was  a  chance  of  making  up  for  all  arrears  by  one 
splendid  act  of  service.  This  was  the  iron  of  agony  in  his  soul 
which  gave  edge  and  energy  to  his  zeal.  In  any  case  he  was  not 
a  man  to  do  things  by  halves  ;  and  he  flung  himself  headlong 
into  his  task. 

35.  Terrible  were  the  scenes  which  ensued.  He  flew  from 
synagogue  to  synagogue,  and  from  house  to  house,  dragging 
forth  men  and  women,  who  were  cast  into  prison  and  punished. 
Some  appear  to  have  been  put  to  death,  and — darkest  trait  of  all — 
others  were  compelled  to  blaspheme  the  name  of  the  Saviour. 
The  Church  at  Jerusalem  was  broken  in  pieces,  and  its  members 
who  escaped  the  rage  of  the  persecutor  were  scattered  over  the 
neighbouring  provinces  and  countries. 

36.  It  may  seem  too  venturesome  to  call  this  the  last  stage  of 
Paul's  unconscious  preparation  for  his  apostolic  career.  But  so 
indeed  it  was.     In  entering  on  the  career  of  a  persecutor  he  was 


HIS    UNCONSCIOUS    PREPARATION    FOR    IITS    WORK.  33 

going  on  straight  in  the  Hne  of  the  creed  in  which  he  had  been 
brought  up  ;  and  this  was  its  reduction  to  absurdity.  Besides, 
through  the  gracious  working  of  Him  whose  highest  glory  it  is 
out  of  evil  still  to  bring  forth  good,  there  sprang  out  of  these  sad 
doings  in  the  mind  of  Paul  an  intensity  of  humihty,  a  willingness 
to  serve  even  the  least  of  the  brethren  of  those  whom  he  had 
abused,  and  a  zeal  to  redeem  lost  time  by  the  parsimonious  use 
of  what  was  left,  which  became  permanent  spurs  to  action  in  his 
subsequent  career. 


CHAPTER    III. 

HIS  CONVERSION. 

Taiagraphs  37-50. 

37,  3S.   Seventy  of  the  Persecution. 

39-42.   Kicking  against  the  Goad. 

43, 44.   The  Vision  of  Christ. 

45-4S.   Effect  of  his  Conversion  on  his  Thinking. 

49.  50.   Its  Effect  on  his  Destiny. 


CHAPTER    III. 


HIS   CONVERSION. 


37.  It  was  the  persecutor's  hope  utterly  to  exterminate  Chris- 
tianity. But  little  did  he  understand  its  genius.  It  thrives  on 
persecution.  Prosperity  has  often  been  fatal  to  it,  persecution 
never.  "  They  that  were  scattered  abroad  went  everywhere 
preaching  the  word."  Hitherto  the  Church  had  been  confined 
within  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  ;  but  now  all  over  Judsea  and 
Samaria,  and  in  distant  Phoenicia  and  Syria,  the  beacon  of  the 
gospel  began  in  many  a  town  and  village  to  twinkle  through  the 
darkness,  and  twos  and  threes  met  together  in  upper  rooms  to 
impart  to  each  other  their  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

38.  We  can  imagine  with  what  rage  the  tidings  of  these  out- 
breaks of  the  fanaticism  which  he  had  hoped  to  stamp  out  would 
fill  the  persecutor.  But  he  was  not  the  person  to  be  balked,  and 
he  resolved  to  hunt  up  the  objects  of  his  hatred  even  in  their  most 
obscure  and  distant  hiding-places.  In  one  strange  city  after 
another  he  accordingly  appeared,  armed  with  the  apparatus  of  the 
inquisitor  to  carry  his  sanguinary  purpose  out.  Having  heard 
that  Damascus,  the  capital  of  Syria,  was  one  of  the  places  where 
the  fugitives  had  taken  refuge,  and  that  they  were  carrying  on 
their  propaganda  among  the  numerous  Jews  of  that  city,  he  went 
to  the  high  priest,  who  had  jurisdiction  over  the  Jews  outside  as 
well  as  inside  Palestine,  and  got  letters  empowering  him  to  seize 
and  bind  and  bring  to  Jerusalem  all  of  the  new  w^ay  of  thinking 
whom  he  might  find  there. 


3d 


36  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

39.  As  we  sec  him  start  on  this  journey,  which  was  to  be  so 
momentous,  we  naturally  ask  what  was  the  state  of  his  mind  ? 
His  was  a  noble  nature  and  a  tender  heart ;  .but  the  work  he  was 
engaged  in  might  be  supposed  to  be  congenial  only  to  the  most 
brutal  of  mankind.  Had  his  mind,  then,  been  visited  with  no 
compunctions  ?  Apparently  not.  We  are  told  that,  as  he  was 
ranging  through  strange  cities  in  pursuit  of  his  victims,  he  was 
exceedingly  mad  against  them  ;  and,  as  he  was  setting  out  to 
Damascus,  he  was  still  breathing  out  threatenings  and  slaughter. 
He  was  sheltered  against  doubt  by  his  reverence  for  the  objects 
which  the  heresy  imperilled  ;  and,  if  he  had  to  outrage  his  natural 
feelings  in  the  bloody  work,  was  not  his  merit  all  the  greater  .^ 

40.  But  on  this  journey  doubt  at  last  invaded  his  mind.  It 
was  a  long  journey  of  over  a  hundred  and  sixty  miles  ;  with 
the  slow  means  of  locomotion  then  available,  it  would  occupy 
at  least  six  days  ;  and  a  considerable  portion  of  it  lay  across 
a  desert,  where  there  was  nothing  to  distract  the  mind  from 
its  own  reflections.  In  this  enforced  leisure  doubts  arose. 
What  else  can  be  meant  by  the  word  with  which  the  Lord 
saluted  him:  "It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the  goad".? 
The  figure  of  speech  is  borrowed  from  a  custom  of  Eastern 
countries  :  the  ox-driver  wields  a  long  pole,  at  the  end  of 
which  is  fixed  a  piece  of  sharpened  iron,  with  which  he  urges 
the  animal  to  go  on  or  stand  still  or  change  its  course  ;  and,  if  it 
is  refractory,  it  kicks  against  the  goad,  injuring  and  infuriating 
itself  with  the  wounds  it  receives.  This  is  a  vivid  picture  of 
a  man  wounded  and  tortured  by  compunctions  of  conscience. 
There  was  something  in  him  rebelling  against  the  course  of 
inhumanity  on  which  he  was  embarked  and  suggesting  that  he 
was  fighting  against  God. 

41.  It  is  not  difficult  to  conceive  whence  these  doubts  arose. 
He  was  the  scholar  of  Gamaliel,  the  advocate  of  humanity  and 
tolerance,  who  had  counselled  the  Sanhedrim  to  leave  the 
Christians  alone.  He  was  himself  too  young  yet  to  have 
hardened  his  heart  to  all  the  disagreeables  of  such  ghastly  work. 


HIS   CONVERSION.  37 

Highly  strung  as  was  his  rehgious  zeal,  nature  could  not  but  speak 
out  at  last.  But  probably  his  compunctions  were  chiefly  awakened 
by  the  character  and  behaviour  of  the  Christians.  He  had  heard 
the  noble  defence  of  Stephen  and  seen  his  face  in  the  council- 
chamber  shining  like  that  of  an  angel.  He  had  seen  him  kneeling 
on  the  field  of  execution  and  praying  for  his  murderers.  Doubt- 
less, in  the  course  of  the  persecution  he  had  witnessed  many 
similar  scenes.  Did  these  people  look  like  enemies  of  God  ?  As 
he  entered  their  homes  to  drag  them  forth  to  prison,  he  got 
glimpses  of  their  social  life.  Could  such  spectacles  of  purity  and 
love  be  products  of  the  powers  of  darkness  ?  Did  not  the  serenity 
with  which  his  victims  went  to  meet  their  fate  look  like  the  very 
peace  which  he  had  long  been  sighing  for  in  vain  ?  Their 
arguments,  too,  must  have  told  on  a  mind  like  his.  He  had 
heard  Steph^njH'oying  from  the  Sciiptures  that  it  behoved  the 
Messiah  to  suft'er  ;  and  the  general  tenor  of  the  earliest  Christian 
apologetic  assures  us  that  many  of  the  accused  must  on  their 
trial  have  appealed  to  passages  like  the  fifty-third  of  Isaiah, 
where  a  career  is  predicted  for  the  Messiah  startlingly  like  that 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  heard  incidents  of  Christ's  life  from 
their  lips  which  betokened  a  personage  very  different  from  the 
picture  sketched  for  him  by  his  Pharisaic  inforn:ants  :  and  the 
sayings  of  their  Master  which  the  Christians  quoted  did  not 
sound  like  the  utterances  of  the  fanatic  he  conceived  Jesus  to 
have  been. 

42.  Such  may  have  been  some  of  the  reflections  which  agitated 
the  traveller  as  he  moved  onward,  sunk  in  gloomy  thought. 
But  might  not  these  be  mere  suggestions  of  temptation — the 
morbid  fancies  of  a  wearied  mind,  or  the  whispers  of  a  wicked 
spirit  attempting  to  draw  him  off  from  the  service  of  Heaven  ? 
The  sight  of  Damascus,  shining  out  like  a  gem  in  the  heart  of 
the  desert,  restored  him  to  himself.  There,  in  the  company  of 
sympathetic  rabbis  and  in  the  excitement  of  effort,  he  would 
dispel  from  his  mind  these  fancies  bred  of  solitude.  So  onward 
he  pressed,  and  the  sun  of  noonday,  from  which  all  but  the  most 


38  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

impatient  travellers  in  the  East  take  refuge  in  a  long  siesta, 
looked  down  upon  him  still  urging  forward  his  course  toward  the 
city  gate. 

43.  The  news  of  Saul's  coming  had  arrived  at  Damascus  before 
him  ;  and  the  little  flock  of  Christ  was  praying  that,  if  it  were 
possible,  the  progress  of  the  wolf,  who  was  on  his  way  to  spoil 
the  fold,  might  be  arrested.  Nearer  and  nearer,  however,  he 
drew ;  he  had  reached  the  last  stage  of  his  journey ;  and  at  the 
sight  of  the  place  which  contained  his  victims  his  appetite  grew 
keener  for  the  prey.  But  the  Good  Shepherd  had  heard  the 
cries  of  the  trembling  flock  and  went  forth  to  face  the  wolf  on 
their  behalf.  Suddenly  at  midday,  as  Paul  and  his  company 
were  riding  forward  beneath  the  blaze  of  the  Syrian  sun,  a  light 
which  dimmed  even  that  fierce  glare  shone  round  about  them,  a 
shock  vibrated  through  the  atmosphere,  and  in  a  moment  they 
found  themselves  prostrate  upon  the  ground.  The  rest  was  for 
Paul  alone  :  a  voice  sounded  in  his  ears,  "  Saul,  Saul,  why 
persecutest  thou  Me  ? "  and,  as  he  looked  up  and  asked  the 
radiant  Figure  that  had  spoken,  "  Who  art  Thou,  Lord  ? "  the 
answer  was,  "  I  am  Jesus,  whom  thou  art  persecuting." 

44.  The  language  in  which  he  ever  afterwards  spoke  of  this 
event  forbids  us  to  think  that  it  was  a  mere  vision  of  Jesus  he 
saw.  He  ranks  it  as  the  last  of  the  appearances  of  the  risen 
Saviour  to  His  disciples,  and  places  it  on  the  same  level  as  the 
appearances  to  Peter,  to  James,  to  the  eleven,  and  to  the  five 
hundred.  It  was,  in  fact,  Christ  Jesus  in  the  vesture  of  His  glori- 
fied humanity,  who  for  once  had  left  the  spot,  wherever  it  may  be 
in  the  spaces  of  the  universe,  where  now  He  sits  on  His  media- 
torial throne,  in  order  to  show  Himself  to  this  elect  disciple  ;  and 
the  light  which  outshone  the  sun  was  no  other  than  the  glory  in 
which  His  humanity  is  there  enveloped.  An  incidental  evidence 
of  this  was  supplied  in  the  words  which  were  addressed  to  Paul. 
They  were  spoken  in  the  Hebrew,  or  rather  the  Aramaic  tongue 
— the  same  language  in  which  Jesus  had  been  wont  to  address 


HIS    CONVERSION. 


39 


the  multitudes  by  the  Lake  and  converse  with  His  disciples  in 
the  desert  solitudes  ;  and,  as  in  the  days  of  His  flesh  He  was 
w^ont  to  open  His  mouth  in  parables,  so  now  He  clothed  His 
rebuke  in  a  striking  metaphor:  "It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick 
ag^ainst  the  goad." 


*£>' 


45.  It  would  be  impossible  to  exaggerate  what  took  place  in 
the  mind  of  Paul  in  this  single  instant.  It  is  but  a  clumsy  way 
we  have  of  dividing  time  by  the  revolution  of  the  clock  into 
minutes  and  hours,  days  and  years,  as  if  each  portion  so  measured 
were  of  the  same  size  as  another  of  equal  length.  This  may  suit 
well  enough  for  the  common  ends  of  life,  but  there  are  finer 
measurements  for  w^hich  it  is  c|uite  misleading.  The  real  size  of 
any  space  of  time  is  to  be  measured  by  the  amount  it  contains  of 
the  soul's  experience  ;  no  one  hour  is  exactly  equal  to  another, 
and  there  are  single  hours  which  are  larger  than  months.  So 
measured,  this  one  moment  of  Paul's  life  was  perhaps  larger  than 
all  his  previous  years.  The  glare  of  revelation  was  so  intense 
that  it  might  well  have  scorched  the  eye  of  reason  or  burnt  out 
life  itself,  as  the  external  light  dazzled  the  eyes  of  his  body  into 
blindness.  When  his  companions  recovered  themselves  and 
turned  to  their  leader,  they  discovered  that  he  had  lost  his  sight, 
and  they  had  to  take  him  by  the  hand  and  lead  him  into  the  city. 
What  a  change  was  there  !  Instead  of  the  proud  Pharisee  riding 
through  the  streets  with  the  pomp  of  an  incjuisitor,  a  stricken 
man,  trembling,  groping,  clinging  to  the  hand  of  his  guide,  arrives 
at  the  house  of  entertainment  amidst  the  consternation  of  those 
who  receive  him,  and,  getting  hastily  to  a  room  where  he  can  ask 
them  to  leave  him  alone,  sinks  down  there  in  the  darkness. 

46. '  But,  though  it  was  dark  without,  it  was  bright  within.  The 
blindness  had  been  sent  for  the  purpose  of  secluding  him  from 
outward  distractions  and  enabling  him  to  concentrate  himself  on 
the  objects  presented  to  the  inner  eye.  For  the  same  reason  he 
neither  ate  nor  drank  for  three  days.  He  was  too  absorbed  in 
the  thoughts  which  crowded  on  him  thick  and  fast. 


40  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

47.  In  these  three  days,  it  may  be  said  with  confidence,  he  got 
at  least  a  partial  hold  of  all  the  truths  he  afterwards  proclaimed 
to  the  world  ;  for  his  whole  theology  is  nothing  but  the  explica- 
tion of  his  own  conversion.  First  of  all,  his  'w^iole  previous  life 
fell  down  in  fragments  at  his  feet.  It  had  been  of  one  piece,  and 
wonderfully  complete.  It  had  appeared  to  himself  to  be  a  con- 
sistent deduction  from  the  highest  revelation  he  knew  and,  in 
spite  of  its  imperfections,  to  lie  in  the  line  of  the  will  of  God. 
But,  instead  of  this,  it  had  been  rushing  in  diametrical  opposition 
against  the  will  and  revelation  of  God,  and  had  now  been  brought 
to  a  stop  and  broken  in  pieces  by  the  collision.  That  which  had 
appeared  to  him  the  perfection  of  service  and  obedience  had 
involved  his  soul  in  the  guilt  of  blasphemy  and  innocent  blood. 
Such  had  been  the  issue  of  seeking  righteousness  by  the  works  of 
the  law.  At  the  very  moment  when  his  righteousness  seemed  at 
last  to  be  turning  to  the  whiteness  so  long  desired,  it  was  caught 
in  the  blaze  of  this  revelation  and  whirled  away  in  shreds  of 
shrivelled  blackness.  It  had  been  a  mistake,  then,  from  first  to 
last.  Righteousness  was  not  to  be  obtained  by  the  law,  but 
only  guilt  and  doom.  This  was  the  unmistakable  conclusion, 
and  it  became  the  one  pole  of  Paul's  theology. 

48.  But,  while  his  theory  of  life  thus  fell  in  pieces  with  a  crash 
that  might  by  itself  have  shaken  his  reason,  in  the  same  moment 
an  opposite  experience  befell  him.  Not  in  wrath  and  vengeance 
did  Jesus  of  Nazareth  appear  to  him,  as  He  might  have  been  ex- 
pected to  appear  to  the  deadly  enemy  of  His  cause.  His  first  word 
might  have  been  a  demand  for  retribution,  and  His  first  might 
have  been  His  last.  But,  instead  of  this,  His  face  had  been  full 
of  divine  benignity  and  His  words  full  of  considerateness  for  His 
persecutor.  In  the  very  moment  when  the  divine  strength  cast 
him  down  on  the  ground  he  felt  himself  encompassed  by  the 
divine  love.  This  was  the  prize  he  had  all  his  lifetime  been 
struggling  for  in  vain,  and  now  he  grasped  it  in  the  very  moment 
in  which  he  discovered  that  his  struggles  had  been  fightings 
against  God  ;  he  was  lifted  up  from  his  fall  in  the  arms  of  God's 


HIS    CONVERSION. 


41 


love  ;  he_was  reconciled  and  accepted  -£Qr,-e:^r.  As  time  went 
on,  he  was  more  and  more  assured  of  this.  In  Christ  he  found 
without  effort. of  his  own  the  peace  and  the  moral  strength  he  had 
striven  for  in  vain.  And  this  became  the  other  pole  of  his 
theology — that  righteousness  and  strength  are  found  in  Christ 
without  man's  effort  by  mere  trust  in  God's  grace  and  acceptance 
of  His  gift.  There  w^re  a  hundred  other  things  involved  in 
these  two  which  it  required  time  to  work  out;  but  within  these 
two  poles  the  system  of  Paul's  thinking  ever  afterwards  revolved. 

49.  The   three  dark  days  were  not  done  before  he  knew  one  \ 
thing  more — that  his  hfe  was  to  be  devoted  to  the  proclamation  |  N**^' 
of  these  discoveries.     In  any  case  this  must  have  been.     Paul   , 

was  a  born  propagandist  and  could  not  have  become  the 
possessor  of  such  revolutionary  truth  without  spreading  it. 
Besides,  he  had  a  warm  heart,  that  could  be  deeply  moved  with 
gratitude  ;  and  when  Jesus,  whom  he  had  blasphemed  and  tried 
to  blot  out  of  the  memory  of  the  world,  treated  him  with  such 
divine  benignity,  giving  him  back  his  forfeited  life  and  placing 
him  in  that  position  which  had  always  appeared  to  him  the  prize 
of  life,  he  could  not  but  put  himself  at  His  service  with  all  his 
powers.  He  was  an  ardent  patriot,  and  the  hope  of  the  Messiah 
had  long  occupied  for  him  the  whole  horizon  of  the  future ;  and, 
when  he  knew  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  the  Messiah  of  his 
people  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  it  followed  as  a  matter  of 
course  that  he  must  spend  his  life  in  making  this  known. 

50.  But  this  destiny  was  also  clearly  announced  to  him  from 
the  outside.  Ananias^  probably  the  leading  man  in  the  small 
Christian  community  at  Damascus,  vv^as  informed,  in  a  vision,  of 
the  change  which  had  happened  to  Paul,  and  sent  to  restore  his 
tight  and  admit  him  into  the  Christian  Church  by  baptism. 
Nothing  could  be  more  beautiful  than  the  w^ay  in  which  this 
servant  of  God  approached  the  man  who  had  come  to  the  city  to 
take  his  life.  As  soon  as  he  learned  the  state  of  the  case,  he 
forgave  and  forgot  all   the  crimes  of  his  enemy  and  sprang  to 


o 


42  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

clasp  him  in  the  arms  of  Christian  love.  Certain  as  may  have 
been  the  assurance  which  in  the  inner  world  of  the  mind  Paul 
had  in  those  three  days  received  of  forgiveness,  it  must  have 
been  to  him  a  most  welcome  reassurance  when,  on  opening  his 
eyes  again  upon  the  external  world,  he  Avas  met  with  no  contra- 
diction of  the  visions  he  had  been  looking  on,  but  the  first  object 
he  saw  was  a  human  face  bending  over  him  with  looks  of 
forgiveness  and  perfect  love.  He  learned  from  Ananias  the 
future  the  Saviour  had  appointed  him  :  he  had  been  apprehended 
by  Christ  in  order  to  be  a  vessel  to  bear  His  name  to  Gentiles 
and  kings  and  to  the  children  of  Israel.  He  accepted  the 
mission  with  limitless  devotion ;  and  from  that  hour  to  the 
hour  of  his  death  he  had  but  one  ambition— to  apprehend  that 
for  which  he  had  been  apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

HIS  GOSPEL, 

Paragraphs  51-67. 

51-53.    Sojourn  in  Arabia. 

54-58,  Failure  of  Man's  Righteousness. 

56.  Failure  of  the  Gentiles. 

57.  Failure  of  the  Jews. 

58.  Ihe  Fall  the  ultimate  Cause  of  Failure. 

59-65.  The  Righteousness  of  God. 

The  New  Adam.     The  New  Man. 

66,  67.    Leading  Peculiarities  of  the  Pauline  Gospel. 


44 


CHAPTER    IV. 


HIS   GOSPEL. 


51.  When  a  man  has  been  suddenly  converted,  as  Paul  was, 

he  is  generally  driven  by  a  strong  impulse  to  make  known  what 

has  happened  to  him.     Such  testimony  is  very  impressive ;  for 

it  is  that  of  a  soul  which  is  receiving  its  first  glimpses  of  the 

realities  of  the  unseen  world,  and  there  is  a  vividness  about  the 

report  it  gives  of  them  which  produces  an  irresistible  sense  of 

reality.      Whether  Paul  yielded  at  once  to  this  impulse  or  not 

we  cannot  say  with  certainty.     The   language   of  the  book   of 

Acts,  where  it  is  said  that  "straightway  he  preached  Christ  in 

the  synagogues,"  would  lead  us  to  suppose  so.     But  we  learn 

from  his  own  writings  that  there  was  another  powerful  impulse 

influencing  him  at  the  same  time  ;  and  it  is  uncertain  which  of 

the  two  he  obeyed  first.     This  other  impulse  was  the  wish  to 

retreat  into  solitude  and  think  out  the  meaning  and  issues  of 

that  which  had  befallen  him.     It  cannot  be  wondered  at  that  he 

felt  this  to  be  a  necessity.     He  had  believed  his  former  creed 

intensely    and    staked   everything    on    it ;    to   see    it    suddenly 

shattered   in  pieces  must  have  shaken  him  severely.     The  new 

truth  which  had  been  flashed  upon  him  was  so  far-reaching  and 

revolutionary  that  it  could  not  be  taken  in   at   once  in  all   its 

bearings.     Paul  was  a  born  thinker  ;  it  was  not  enough  for  him 

to  experience  anything  ;   he  required  to  comprehend  it  and  fit 

it  into  the  structure  of  his  convictions.     Immediately,  therefore, 

after  his   conversion   he   went  awav,   he  tells   us,   into  Arabia. 

45 


46  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

He  docs  not  indeed  say  for  what  purpose  he  went  ;  but,  as 
there  is  no  record  of  his  preaching  in  that  region  and  this 
statement  occurs  in  the  midst  of  a  vehement  defence  of  the 
originahty  of  his  Gospel,  we  may  conclude  with  considerable 
certainty  that  he  went  into  retirement  for  the  purpose  of  grasping 
in  thought  the  details  and  the  bearings  of  the  revelation  he  had 
been  put  in  possession  of.  In  lonely  contemplation  he  worked 
them  out ;  and,  when  he  returned  to  mankind,  he  was  in  possession 
of  that  view  of  Christianity  which  was  peculiar  to  himself  and 
formed  the  burden  of  his  preaching  during  the  subsequent  years. 

52.  There  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  precise  place  of  his  retire- 
ment, because  Arabia  is  a  word  of  vague  and  variable  significance. 
But  most  probably  it  denotes  the  Arabia  of  the  Wanderings, 
whose  principal  feature  was  Mount  Sinai.  This  was  a  spot 
hallowed  by  great  memories  and  by  the  presence  of  other  great 
men  of  revelation.  Here  Moses  had  seen  the  burning  bush  and 
communed  with  God  on  the  top  of  the  mountain.  Here  Elijah 
had  roamed  in  his  season  of  despair  and  drunk  anew  at  the  wells 
of  inspiration.  What  place  could  be  more  appropriate  for  the 
meditations  of  this  successor  of  these  men  of  God?  In  the 
valleys  where  the  manna  fell  and  under  the  shadow  of  the  peaks 
which  had  burned  beneath  the  feet  of  Jehovah  he  pondered  the 
problem  of  his  life.  It  is  a  great  example.  Originality  in  the 
preaching  of  the  truth  depends  on  the  solitary  intuition  of  it. 
Paul  enjoyed  the  special  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  but  this 
did  not  render  the  concentrated  activity  of  his  own  thinking 
unnecessary,  but  only  lent  it  peculiar  intensity  ;  and  the  clear- 
ness and  certainty  of  his  gospel  were  due  to  these  months  of 
sequestered  thought.  His  retirement  may  have  lasted  a  year 
or  more  ;  for  between  his  conversion  and  his  final  departure 
from  Damascus,  to  which  he  returned  from  Arabia,  three  years 
intervened  ;  and  one  of  them  at  least  was  spent  in  this  way. 

53.  We  have  no  detailed  record  of  what  the  outlines  of  his 
gospel  were  till  a  period  long  subsequent  to  this ;  but  as  these, 
when  first  they  are  traceable,  are  a  mere  cast  of  the  features  of 


HIS   GOSPEL.  47 

his  conversion,  and,  as  his  mind  was  working  so  long  and  power- 
fully on  the  interpretation  of  this  event  at  this  period,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  gospel  sketched  in  the  Epistles  to  the 
Romans  and  the  Galatians  was  substantially  the  same  as  he 
preached  from  the  first  ;  and  we  are  safe  in  inferring  from  these 
VvTitings  our  account  of  his  Arabian  meditations. 

54.  The  starting-point  of  Paul's  thinking  was  still,  as  it  had 
been  from  his  childhood,  the  conviction,  inherited  from  pious 
generations,  that  the  true  end  and  felicity  of  man  lay  in  the 
enjoyment  of  the  favour  of  God.  This  was  to  be  attained  through 
righteousness;  only  the  righteous  could  God  be  at  peace  with 
and  favour  with  His  love.  To  attain  righteousness  must  there- 
fore be  the  chief  end  of  man. 

55.  But  man  had  failed  to  attain  righteousness  and  had  there- 
fore come  short  of  the  favour  of  God,  and  exposed  himself  to 
His  wrath.  Paul  proves  this  by  taking  a  vast  survey  of  the 
history  of  mankind  in  pre-Christian  times  in  its  two  great  sections 
— the  Gentile  and  the  Jewish. 

56.  The  Gentiles  failed.  It  might,  indeed,  be  supposed  that 
they  had  not  the  preliminary  conditions  for  entering  on  the 
pursuit  of  righteousness  at  all,  because  they  did  not  enjoy  the 
advantage  of  a  special  revelation.  But  Paul  holds  that  even  the 
heathen  know  enough  of  God  to  be  aware  of  the  obligation  to 
follow  after  righteousness.  There  is  a  natural  revelation  of  God 
in  His  works  and  in  the  human  conscience  sufficient  to  enlighten 
men  as  to  this  duty.  But  the  heathen,  instead  of  making  use  of 
this  light,  wantonly  extinguished  it.  They  were  not  willing  to 
retain  God  in  their  knowledge  and  to  fetter  themselves  with  the 
restraints  which  a  pure  knowledge  of  Him  imposed.  They 
corrupted  the  idea  of  God  in  order  to  feel  at  ease  in  an  immoral 
life.  The  revenge  of  nature  came  upon  them  in  the  darkening 
and  confusion  of  their  intellects.  They  fell  into  such  insensate 
folly  as  to  change  the  glorious  and  incorruptible  nature  of  God 
into  the  images  of  men  and  beast?,  birds  and   reptiles.     This 


48  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

intellectual  degeneracy  was  followed  by  still  deeper  moral  de- 
generacy. God,  when  they  forsook  Him,  let  them  go  ;  and, 
when  His  restraining  grace  was  removed,  down  they  rushed  into 
the  depths  of  moral  putridity.  Lust  and  passion  got  the  mastery 
of  them,  and  their  life  became  a  mass  of  moral  disease.  In  the 
end  of  the  first  chapter  of  Romans  the  features  of  their  condition 
are  sketched  in  colours  that  might  be  borrowed  from  the  abode 
of  devils,  but  were  literally  taken,  as  is  too  plainly  proved  by  the 
pages  even  of  Gentile  historians,  from  the  condition  of  the  cul- 
tured heathen  nations  at  that  time.  This,  then,  was  the  history 
of  one  half  of  mankind  :  it  had  utterly  fallen  from  righteousness 
and  exposed  itself  to  the  wrath  of  God,  which  is  revealed  from 
heaven  against  all  unrighteousness  of  men. 

57.  The  Jews  were  the  other  half  of  the  world.  Had  they 
succeeded  where  the  Gentiles  had  failed  ?  They  enjoyed,  indeed, 
great  advantages  over  the  heathen  ;  for  they  possessed  the 
oracles  of  God,  in  which  the  divine  nature  was  exhibited  in  a 
form  which  rendered  it  inaccessible  to  human  perversion,  and 
the  divine  law  was  written  with  equal  plainness  in  the  same  form. 
But  had  they  profited  by  these  advantages?  It  is  one  thing  to 
know  the  law  and  another  thing  to  do  it ;  but  it  is  doing  not 
knowing  which  is  righteousness.  Had  they,  then,  fulfilled  the 
will  of  God  which  they  knew?  Paul  had  lived  in  the  same 
Jerusalem  in  which  Jesus  assailed  the  corruption  and  hypocrisy 
of  scribes  and  Pharisees  ;  he  had  looked  closely  at  the  lives  of 
the  representative  men  of  his  nation  ;  and  he  does  not  hesitate  to 
charge  the  Jews  in  mass  with  the  very  same  sins  as  the  Gentiles  ; 
nay,  he  says  that  through  them  the  name  of  God  was  blasphemed 
among  the  Gentiles.  They  boasted  of  their  knowledge  and  were 
the  bearers  of  the  torch  of  truth,  whose  fierce  blaz^  exposed  the 
sins  of  the  heathen.  But  their  religion  was  a  bitter  criticism  of 
the  conduct  of  others.  They  forgot  to  examine  their  own  con- 
duct by  the  same  light ;  and,  whilst  they  were  repeating.  Do  not 
steal,  Do  not  commit  adultery,  and  a  multitude  of  other  com- 
mandments, they  were  indulging  in  these  sins  themselves.     What 


HIS  GOSPEL.  •  49 

good  in  these  circumstances  did  their  knowledge  do  them  .■'  It 
only  condemned  them  the  more ;  for  their  sin  was  against  light. 
Whilst  the  heathen  knew  so  little  that  their  sins  were  compara- 
tively innocent,  the  sins  of  the  Jews  w^ere  conscious  and  pre- 
sumptuous. Their  boasted  superiority  was  therefore  inferiority. 
They  Avere  more  deeply  condemned  than  the  Gentiles  they 
despised,  and  exposed  to  a  heavier  curse. 

58.  The  truth  is,  Gentiles  and  Jews  had  both  failed  for  the 
same  reason.  Trace  these  two  streams  of  human  life  back  to 
their  sources  and  you  come  at  last  to  a  point  where  they  are  not 
two  streams  but  one  ;  and,  before  the  bifurcation  took  place, 
something  had  happened  which  predetermined  the  failure  of 
both.  In  Adam  all  fell,  and  from  him  all,  both  Gentiles  and 
Jews,  inherited  a  nature  too  weak  for  the  arduous  attainment  of 
righteousness  ;  human  nature  is  carnal  now,  not  spiritual,  and 
therefore  unequal  to  this  supreme  spiritual  achievement.  The 
Law  could  not  alter  this  ;  it  had  no  creative  power  to  make  the 
carnal  spiritual.  On  the  contrary,  it  aggravated  the  evil.  It 
actually  multiplied  offences ;  for  its  clear  and  full  description  of 
sins,  which  would  have  been  an  incomparable  guide  to  a  sound 
nature,  turned  into  temptation  for  a  morbid  one.  The  very 
knowledge  of  sin  tempts  to  its  commission  ;  the  very  command 
not  to  do  anything  is  a  reason  to  a  diseased  nature  for  doing  it. 
This  was  the  effect  of  the  law  :  it  multiplied  and  aggravated 
transgressions.  And  this  was  God's  intention.  Not  that  He 
was  the  author  of  sin  ;  but,  like  a  skilful  physician,  who  has 
sometimes  to  use  appliances  to  bring  a  sore  to  a  head  before 
he  heals  it,  He  allowed  the  heathen  to  go  their  own  way  and 
gave  the  Jews  the  law,  that  the  sin  of  human  nature  might 
exhibit  all  its  inherent  qualities,  before  He  intervened  to  heal  it. 
The  healing,  however,  was  His  real  purpose  all  the  time  :  He 
deluded  all  under  sin  that  He  might  have  mercy  upon  all. 

59.  Man's  extremity  was  God's  opportunity ;  not,  indeed,  in  the 
sense   that,   one   way  of  salvation   having   failed,    God   devised 


50  THE   LIFE   OF   ST.    PAUL. 

another.  The  Law  had  never,  in  His  intention,  been  a  way  of 
salvation.  It  was  only  a  means  of  illustrating  the  need  of 
salvation.  But  the  moment  when  this  demonstration  was  com- 
plete was  the  signal  for  God  to  produce  His  method,  which  He 
had  kept  locked  in  His  counsel  through  the  generations  of  human 
probation.  It  had  never  been  His  intention  to  permit  man  to 
fail  of  his  true  end.  Only  He  allowed  time  to  prove  that  fallen 
man  could  never  reach  righteousness  by  his  own  efforts ;  and, 
when  the  righteousness  of  man  had  been  demonstrated  to  be  a 
failure.  He  brought  forth  His  secret — the  righteousness  of  God. 
This  was  Christianity  ;  this  was  the  sum  and  issue  of  the  mission 
of  Christ — the  conferring  upon  man,  as  a  free  gift,  of  that  which 
is  indispensable  to  his  blessedness,  but  which  he  had  failed 
himself  to  attain.  It  is  a  divine  act;  it  is  grace;  and  man 
obtains  it  by  acknowledging  that  he  has  failed  himself  to  attain  it 
and  by  accepting  it  from  God  ;  it  is  got  by  faith  only.  It  is  "  the 
righteousness  of  God,  by  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  unto  all  and 
upon  all  them  that  believe.'^ 

60.  Those  who  thus  receive  it  enter  at  once  into  that  position 
of  peace  and  favour  with  God  in  which  human  felicity  consists 
and  which  was  the  goal  aimed  at  by  Paul  when  he  was  striving 
for  righteousness  by  the  law.  "  Being  justified  by  faith,  we  have 
peace  with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  also  we 
have  access  by  faith  into  this  grace  wherein  we  stand,  and  rejoice 
in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God."  It  is  a  sunny  life  of  joy,  peace  and 
hope  which  those  lead  who  have  come  to  know  this  gospel. 
There  may  be  trials  in  it ;  but,  when  a  man's  life  is  reposing  in 
the  attainment  of  its  true  end,  trials  are  light  and  all  things  work 
together  for  good. 

61.  This  righteousness  of  God  is  for  all  the  children  of  men — 
not  for  the  Jews  only,  but  for  the  Gentiles  also.  The  demonstra- 
tion of  man's  inability  to  attain  righteousness  was  made,  in 
accordance  with  the  divine  purpose,  in  both  sections  of  the 
human  race  ;  and  its  completion  was  the  signal  for  the  exhibition 
of  God's  grace  to  both  alike.     The  work  of  Christ  was  not  for  the 


HIS   GOSPEL.  51 

chiKIrcn  of  Abraham,  but  for  the  children  of  Adam.  "As  in 
Adam  all  died,  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  The 
Gentiles  did  not  need  to  undergo  circumcision  and  to  keep  the 
Law  in  order  to  obtain  salvation  ;  for  the  law  was  no  part  of 
salvation  ;  it  belonged  entirely  to  the  preliminary  demonstration 
of  man's  failure;  and,  when  it  had  accomplished  this  service,  it 
was  ready  to  vanish  away.  The  only  human  condition  of  obtaining 
God's  righteousness  is  faith ;  and  this  is  as  easy  for  Gentile  as 
Jew.  This  was  an  inference  from  Paul's  own  experience.  It  was 
not  as  a  Jew,  but  as  a  man,  that  he  had  been  dealt  with  in  his 
conversion.  No  Gentile  could  have  been  less  entitled  to  obtain 
salvation  by  merit  than  he  had  been.  So  far  from  the  Law 
raising  him  a  single  step  towards  salvation,  it  had  removed  him 
to  a  greater  distance  from  God  than  any  Gentile,  and  cast  him 
into  a  deeper  condemnation.  How,  then,  could  it  profit  the 
Gentiles  to  be  placed  in  this  position  ?  In  obtaining  the  right- 
eousness in  which  he  was  now  rejoicing  he  had  done  nothing 
which  was  not  competent  to  any  human  being. 

62.  It  was  this  universal  love  of  God  revealed  in  the  gospel 
which  inspired  Paul  with  unbounded  admiration  for  Christianity. 
His  sympathies  had  been  cribbed,  cabined  and  confined  in  a 
narrow  conception  of  God  ;  the  new  faith  uncaged  his  heart  and 
let  it  forth  into  the  free  and  sunny  air.  God  became  a  new  God 
to  him.  He  calls  his  discovery  the  mystery  which  had  been 
hidden  from  ages  and  generations,  but  had  been  revealed  to  him 
and  his  fellow-apostles.  It  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  secret  of  the 
ages  and  to  be  destined  to  usher  in  a  new  era,  far  better  than  any 
the  world  had  ever  seen.  What  kings  and  prophets  had  not 
known  had  been  revealed  to  him.  It  had  burst  on  him  like  the 
dawn  of  a  new  creation.  God  was  now  offering  to  every  man  the 
supreme  felicity  of  life — that  righteousness  which  had  been  the 
vain  endeavour  of  the  past  ages. 

63.  This  secret  of  the  new  epoch  had  not,  indeed,  been  entirely 
unanticipated  in  the  past.  It  had  been  "witnessed  by  the  law 
and  the  prophets."      The  Law  could    bear  witness   to   it   only 


52  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

negatively  by  demonstrating  its  necessity.  But  the  prophets 
anticipated  it  more  positively.  David,  for  example,  described 
'•the  blessedness  of  the  man  unto  whom  God  imputed  righteous- 
ness without  works."  Still  more  clearly  had  Abraham  anticipated 
it.  He  was  a  justified  man  ;  and  it  was  by  faith,  not  by  works, 
that  he  was  justified — "  he  believed  God,  and  it  was  imputed  unto 
him  for  righteousness."  The  Law  had  nothing  to  do  with  his 
justification,  for  it  was  not  in  existence  for  four  centuries  after- 
wards. Nor  had  circumcision  anything  to  do  with  it,  for  he  was 
justified  before  this  rite  was  instituted.  In  short,  it  was  as  a  man, 
not  as  a  Jew,  that  he  was  dealt  with  by  God,  and  God  might  deal 
with  any  human  being  in  the  same  way.  It  had  once  made  the 
thorny  road  of  legal  righteousness  sacred  to  Paul  to  think  that 
Abraham  and  the  prophets  had  trodden  it  before  him  ;  but  now 
he  knew  that  their  life  of  religious  joy  and  psalms  of  holy  calm 
were  inspired  by  quite  different  experiences,  which  were  now 
diffusing  the  peace  of  heaven  through  his  heart  also.  But  only 
the  first  streaks  of  dawn  had  been  descried  by  them  ;  the  perfect 
day  had  broken  in  his  own  time. 

64.  Paul's  discovery  of  this  way  of  salvation  was  an  actual 
experience ;  he  simply  knew  that  Christ,  in  the  moment  when  He 
met  him,  had  placed  him  in  that  position  of  peace  and  favour 
with  God  which  he  had  long  sighed  for  in  vain,  and,  as  time  went 
on,  he  felt  more  and  more  that  in  this  position  he  was  enjoying 
the  true  blessedness  of  life.  Plis  mission  henceforth  would  be  to 
herald  this  discovery  in  its  simple  and  concrete  reality  under  the 
name  of  the  Righteousness  of  God.  But  a  mind  like  his  could 
not  help  inquiring  how  it  was  that  the  possession  of  Christ  did  so 
much  for  him.  In  the  Arabian  wilderness  he  pondered  over  this 
question,  and  the  gospel  he  subsequently  preached  contained  a 
luminous  answer  to  it. 

65.  From  Adam  his  children  derive  a  sad  double  heritage — a 
debt  of  guilt,  which  they  cannot  reduce,  but  are  constantly 
increasing,  and  a  carnal  nature,  which  is  incapable  of  righteous- 


HIS    GOSPEL.  53 

ness.  These  are  the  two  features  of  the  religious  condition  of 
fallen  man,  and  they  are  the  double  source  of  all  his  woes.  But 
Christ  is  a  new  Adam,  a  new  head  of  humanity,  and  those  who 
are  connected  with  Him  by  faith  become  heirs  of  a  double 
heritage  of  a  precisely  opposite  kind.  On  the  one  hand,  just  as 
through  our  birth  in  the  first  Adam's  line  we  get  inevitably 
entangled  in  guilt,  like  a  child  born  into  a  family  which  is 
drowned  in  debt,  so  through  our  birth  in  the  line  of  the  second 
Adam  we  get  involved  in  a  boundless  heritage  of  merit,  which 
Christ,  as  the  Head  of  His  family,  makes  the  common  property 
of  its  members.  This  extinguishes  the  debt  of  our  guilt  and 
makes  us  rich  in  Christ's  righteousness.  "  As  by  one  man's  dis- 
obedience many  were  made  sinners,  so  by  the  obedience  of  one 
shall  many  be  made  righteous."  On  the  other  hand,  just  as 
Adam  transmitted  to  his  posterity  a  carnal  nature,  alien  to  God 
and  unfit  for  righteousness,  so  the  new  Adam  imparts  to  the  race 
of  which  He  is  the  Head,  a  spiritual  nature,  akin  to  God  and 
delighting  in  righteousness.  The  nature  of  man,  according  to 
Paul,  normally  consists  of  three  sections — body,  soul,  and  spirit. 
In  his  original  constitution  these  occupied  definite  relations  of 
superiority  and  subordination  to  one  another,  the  spirit  being 
supreme,  the  body  undermost,  and  the  soul  occupying  the 
middle  position.  But  the  fall  disarranged  this  order,  and  all  sin 
consists  in  the  usurpation  by  the  body  or  the  soul  of  the  place  of 
the  spirit.  In  fallen  man  these  two  inferior  sections  of  human 
nature,  which  together  form  what  Paul  calls  the  Flesh,  or  that 
side  of  human  nature  which  looks  towards  the  world  and  time, 
have  taken  possession  of  the  throne  and  completely  rule  the  life, 
whilst  the  spirit,  the  side  of  man  which  looks  towards  God  and 
eternity,  has  been  dethroned  and  reduced  to  a  condition  of 
inefficiency  and  death.  Christ  restores  the  lost  predominance  of 
the  spirit  of  man  by  taking  possession  of  it  by  His  own  Spirit. 
II is  Spirit  dwells  in  the  human  spirit,  vivifying  it  and  sustaining 
it  in  such  growing  strength  that  it  becomes  more  and  more  the 
sovereign  part  of  the  human  constitution.     The  man  peases  to  be 


9 


54  THE    LIFE   OF   ST.    PAUL. 

carnal  and  becomes  spiritual ;  he  is  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God  and 
becomes  more  and  more  harmonious  with  all  that  is  holy  and 
divine.  The  flesh  docs  not,  indeed,  easily  submit  to  the  loss  of 
supremacy.  It  clogs  and  obstructs  the  spirit  and  fights  to  regain 
possession  of  the  throne.  Paul  has  described  this  struggle  in 
sentences  of  terrible  vividness,  in  which  all  generations  of  Chris- 
tians have  recognised  the  features  of  their  deepest  experience. 
But  the  issue  of  the  struggle  is  not  doubtful.  Sin  shall  not  again 
have  dominion  over  those  in  whom  Christ's  Spirit  dwells,  or 
dislodge  them  from  their  standing  in  the  favour  of  God.  "Neither 
death  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities  nor  powers,  nor 
things  present  nor  things  to  come,  nor  height  nor  depth,  nor  any 
other  creature  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.'' 

66.  Such  are  the  bare  outlines  of  the  gospel  which  Paul  brought 
back  with  him  from  the  Arabian  solitudes  and  afterwards 
preached  with  unwearied  enthusiasm.  It  could  not  but  be  mixed 
up  in  his  mind  and  in  his  writings  with  the  peculiarities  of  his 
own  experience  as  a  Jew,  and  these  make  it  difficult  for  us  to 
grasp  his  system  in  some  of  its  details.  The  belief  in  which  he 
was  brought  up,  that  no  man  could  be  saved  without  becoming  a 
Jew,  and  the  notions  about  the  Law  from  which  he  had  to  cut 
himself  free  lie  very  distant  from  our  modern  sympathies  ;  yet  his 
theology  could  not  shape  itself  in  his  mind  except  in  contrast  to 
these  misconceptions.  This  became  subsequently  still  more  in- 
evitable when  his  own  old  errors  met  him  as  the  watchwords  of  a 
party  within  the  Christian  church  itself,  against  which  he  had  to 
wage  a  long  and  relentless  war.  Though  this  conflict  forced  his 
views  into  the  clearest  expression,  it  encumbered  them  with 
references  to  feelings  and  beliefs  which  are  now  dead  to  the 
interest  of  mankind.  But,  in  spite  of  these  drawbacks,  the  Gospel 
of  Paul  remains  a  possession  of  incalculable  value  to  the  human 
race.  Its  searching  investigation  of  the  failure  and  the  wants  of 
human  nature,  its  wonderful  unfolding  of  the  wisdom  of  God  in 


HIS    GOSPEL. 


55 


the  education  of  the  pre-Christian  world,  and  its  exhibition  of 
the  depth  and  universahty  of  the  divine  love  are  among  the 
profoundest  elements  of  revelation. 

67.  But  it  is  in  its  conception  of  Christ  that  Paul's  gospel  wears 
its  imperishable  crown.  The  Evangelists  sketched  in  a  hundred 
traits  of  simple  and  affecting  beauty  the  fashion  of  the  earthly 
life  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  and  in  these  the  model  of  human 
conduct  will  always  have  to  be  sought ;  but  to  Paul  was  reserved 
the  task  of  making  known,  in  its  heights  and  depths,  the  work 
which  the  Son  of  God  accomplished  as  the  Saviour  of  the  race. 
He  scarcely  ever  refers  to  the  incidents  of  Christ's  earthly  life, 
although  here  and  there  he  betrays  that  he  knew  them  well.  To 
him  Christ  was  ever  the  glorious  Being,  shining  with  the  splendour 
of  heaven,  who  appeared  to  him  on  the  way  to  Damascus,  and 
the  Saviour  who  caught  him  up  into  the  heavenly  peace  and  joy 
of  a  new  life.  When  the  Church  of  Christ  thinks  of  her  Head 
as  the  deliverer  of  the  soul  from  sin  and  death,  as  a  spiritualising 
presence  ever  with  her  and  at  work  in  every  believer,  and  as  the 
Lord  over  all  things  who  will  come  again  without  sin  unto  salva- 
tion, it  is  in  forms  of  thought  given  her  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
through  the  instrumentality  of  this  apostle. 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE  WORK  AWAITING  THE   WORKER. 

Paragraphs  6S-78. 

68-70.   Eiglit  Years   of  Comparative   Inactivity  at   Tarsus. 

Gentiles  admitted  to  Christian  Church. 
71,  72.  Paul  discovered  by  Barnabas  and  brought  to  Antioch. 

His  Work  there. 

73-78.  The  Known  World  of  that  Teriod. 

75.  The   Greeks  ;     76,    The    Romans ;   77.   The  Jews ; 
78.  Barbarians  and  Slaves, 


£« 


CHAPTER    V. 

THE   WORK   AWAIIING   THE   WORKER. 

68.  Paul  was  now  in  possession  of  his  gospel  and  was  aware 
that  it  was  to  be  the  mission  of  his  Hfe  to  preach  it  to  the  Gentiles ; 
but  he  had  still  to  wait  a  long  time  before  his  peculiar  career 
commenced.  We  hear  scarcely  anything  of  him  for  other  seven 
or  eight  years  ;  and  yet  we  can  only  guess  what  may  have  been  the 
reasons  of  Providence  for  imposing  on  Mis  servant  so  long  a  time 
of  waiting. 

69.  There  may  have  been  personal  reasons  for  it  connected 
with  Paul's  own  spiritual  history  ;  because  waiting  is  a  common 
instrument  of  providential  discipline  for  those  to  whom  exceptional 
work  has  been  appointed.  A  public  reason  may  have  been  that 
he  was  too  obnoxious  to  the  Jewish  authorities  to  be  tolerated  yet 
in  those  scenes  where  Christian  activity  commanded  any  notice. 
He  had  attempted  to  preach  in  Damascus,  where  his  conversion 
had  taken  place,  but  was  immediately  forced  to  flee  from  the  fury 
of  the  Jews  ;  and,  going  thence  to  Jerusalem  and  beginning  to 
testify  as  a  Christian,  he  found  the  place  in  two  or  three  weeks  too 
hot  to  hold  him.  No  wonder  ;  how  could  the  Jews  be  expected 
to  allow  the  man  who  had  so  lately  been  the  chief  champion  of 
their  religion  to  preach  the  faith  which  they  had  employed  him  to 
destroy?  When  he  fled  from  Jerusalem,  he  bent  his  steps  to  his 
native  Tarsus,  where  for  years  he  remained  in  obscurity.  No 
doubt  he  testified  for  Christ  there  to  his  own  family,  and  there 
are  some  indications  that  he  carried  on  evangelistic  operations  in 

67 


58  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

his  native  province  of  Cilicia  ;  but,  if  he  did  so,  his  work  may  be 
said  to  have  been  that  of  a  man  in  hiding,  for  it  was  not  in  the 
central  or  even  in  a  visible  stream  of  the  new  religious  movement. 

70.  These  are  but  conjectural  reasons  for  the  obscurity  of  these 
years.  But  there  was  one  undoubted  reason  for  the  delay  of 
Paul's  career  of  the  greatest  possible  importance.  In  this 
interval  took  place  that  revolution — one  of  the  most  momentous 
in  the  history  of  mankind — by  which  the  Gentiles  were  admitted 
to  equal  privileges  with  the  Jews  in  the  Church  of  Christ.  This 
change  proceeded  from  the  original  circle  of  apostles  in  Jerusalem, 
and  Peter,  the  chief  of  the  apostles,  was  the  instrument  of  it.  By 
the  vision  of  the  sheet  of  clean  and  unclean  beasts,  which  he  saw 
at  Joppa,  he  was  prepared  for  the  part  he  was  to  play  in  this 
transaction,  and  he  admitted  the  Gentile  Cornelius,  of  Caesarea, 
and  his  family  to  the  Church  by  baptism  without  circumcision. 
This  was  an  innovation  involving  boundless  consequences.  It 
was  a  necessary  preliminary  to  Paul's  mission-work,  and  subse- 
quent events  were  to  show  how  wise  was  the  divine  arrangement 
that  the  first  Gentile  entrants  into  the  Church  should  be  admitted 
by  the  hands  of  Peter  rather  than  by  those  of  Paul. 

71.  As  soon  as  this  event  had  taken  place,  the  arena  was  clear 
for  Paul's  career,  and  a  door  was  immediately  opened  for  his 
entrance  upon  it.  Almost  simultaneously  with  the  baptism  of  the 
Gentile  family  at  C^sarea  a  great  revival  broke  out  among  the 
Gentiles  of  the  city  of  Antioch,  the  capital  of  Syria.  The  move- 
ment had  been  begun  by  fugitives  driven  by  persecution  from 
Jerusalem,  and  it  was  carried  on  with  the  sanction  of  the  apostles, 
who  sent  Barnabas,  one  of  their  trusted  coadjutors,  from  Jerusalem 
to  superintend  it.  This  man  knew  Paul.  When  the  latter  first 
came  to  Jerusalem  after  his  conversion  and  assayed  to  join  himself 
to  the  Christians  there,  they  were  all  afraid  of  him,  suspecting  the 
teeth  and  claws  of  the  wolf  beneath  the  fleece  of  the  sheep.  But 
Barnabas  rose  superior  to  these  fears  and  suspicions,  and,  having 
taken  the  new  convert  and  heard  his  story,  believed  in  him  and 
persuaded  the  rest  to  receive  him.     The  intercourse  thus  begun 


THE   WORK    AWAITING   THE    WORKER.  59 

only  lasted  a  week  or  two  at  that  time,  as  Paul  had  to  leave 
Jerusalem  ;  but  Barnabas  had  received  a  profound  impression  of 
his  personality  and  did  not  forget  him.  When  he  was  sent  down 
to  superintend  the  revival  at  Antioch,  he  soon  found  himself 
embarrassed  with  its  magnitude  and  in  need  of  assistance  ;  and 
the  idea  occurred  to  him  that  Paul  was  the  man  he  wanted. 
Tarsus  was  not  far  off,  and  thither  he  went  to  seek  him.  Paul 
accepted  his  invitation  and  returned  with  him  to  Antioch. 

72.  The  hour  he  had  been  waiting  for  had  struck,  and  he  threw 
himself  into  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  Gentiles  with  the 
enthusiasm  of  a  great  nature  that  found  itself  at  last  in  its  proper 
sphere.  The  movement  at  once  responded  to  the  pressure  of 
such  a  hand  ;  the  disciples  became  so  numerous  and  prominent 
that  the  heathen  gave  them  a  new  name  —  that  name  of 
"  Christians,"  which  has  ever  since  continued  to  be  the  badge  of 
faith  in  Christ  ;  and  Antioch,  a  city  of  half  a  million  inhabitants, 
became  the  headquarters  of  Christianity  instead  of  Jerusalem. 
Soon  a  large  church  was  formed,  and  one  of  the  manifestations 
of  the  zeal  with  which  it  was  pervaded  was  a  proposal,  which 
gradually  shaped  itself  into  an  enthusiastic  resolution,  to  send 
forth  a  mission  to  the  heathen.  As  a  matter  of  course,  Paul  was 
designated  for  this  service. 

73.  As  we  see  him  thus  brought  at  length  face  to  face  with  the 
task  of  his  life,  let  us  pause  to  take  a  brief  survey  of  the  world 
which  he  was  setting  out  to  conquer.  Nothing  less  was  what 
he  ainied  at.  In  Paul's  time  the  known  world  was  so  small  a 
place,  that  it  did  not  seem  impossible  even  for  a  single  man  to 
make  a  spiritual  conquest  of  it ;  and  it  had  been  wonderfully 
prepared  for  the  new  force  which  was  about  to  assail  it. 

74.  It  consisted  of  a  narrow  disc  of  land  surrounding  the 
Mediterranean  Sea.  That  sea  deserved  at  that  time  the  name  it 
bears,  for  the  world's  centre  of  gravity,  which  has  since  shifted  to 
other  latitudes,  w-as  in  it.  The  interest  of  human  life  was  concen- 
trated in  the  southern  countries  of  Europe,  the  portion  of  western 


60  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

Asia,  and  the  strip  of  northern  Africa  which  form  its  shores.  In 
this  httle  world  there  were  three  cities  which  divided  between 
them  the  interest  of  those  ages.  These  were  Rome,  Athens,  and 
Jerusalem,  the  capitals  of  the  three  races — the  Romans,  the 
Greeks  and  the  Jev/s — which  in  every  sense  ruled  that  old  world. 
It  was  not  that  each  of  them  had  mastered  a  third  part  of  the 
circle  of  civilisation,  but  each  of  them  had  in  turn  diffused  itself 
over  the  whole  of  it,  and  either  still  held  its  grip  or  at  least  had 
left  imperishable  traces  of  its  presence. 

75.  The  Greeks  were  the  first  to  take  possession  of  the  world. 
They  were  the  people  of  cleverness  and  genius,  the  perfect 
masters  of  commerce,  literature  and  art.  In  very  early  ages  they 
displayed  the  instinct  for  colonisation  and  sent  forth  their  sons  to 
find  new  abodes  on  the  east  and  the  west,  far  from  their  native 
home.  At  length  there  arose  among  them  one  who  concentrated 
in  himself  the  strongest  tendencies  of  the  race  and  by  force  of 
arms  extended  the  dominion  of  Greece  to  the  borders  of  India. 
The  vast  empire  of  Alexander  the  Great  split  into  pieces  at  his 
death  ;  but  a  deposit  of  Greek  life  and  influence  remained  in  all 
the  countries  over  which  the  deluge  of  his  conquering  armies  had 
swept.  Greek  cities,  such  as  Antioch  in  Syria  and  Alexandria  in 
Egypt,  flourished  all  over  the  East ;  Greek  merchants  abounded 
in  every  centre  of  trade  ;  Greek  teachers  taught  the  literature  of 
their  country  in  many  lands  ;  and — what  was  most  important  of 
all — the  Greek  language  became  the  general  vehicle  for  the 
communication  of  the  more  serious  thought  between  nation  and 
nation.  Even  the  Jews  in  New  Testament  times  read  their  own 
Scriptures  in  a  Greek  version,  the  original  Hebrew  having  become 
a  dead  language.  Perhaps  the  Greek  is  the  most  perfect  tongue 
the  world  has  known,  and  there  was  a  special  providence  in  its 
universal  diffusion  before  Christianity  needed  a  medium  of  inter- 
national communication.  The  New  Testament  was  written  in 
Greek,  and,  wherever  the  apostles  of  Christianity  travelled,  they 
were  able  to  make  themselves  understood  in  this  language. 

76.  The  turn  of  the  Romans  came  next  to  obtain  possession  of 


THE  WORK  AWAITING  THE  WORKER.  6 1 

the  world.  Originally  a  small  clan  in  the  neighbourhood  of  ihe 
city  from  which  they  derived  their  name,  they  gradually  extended 
and  strengthened  themselves  and  acquired  such  skill  in  the  arts 
of  war  and  government  that  they  became  irresistible  conquerors 
and  marched  forth  in  every  direction  to  make  themselves  masters 
of  the  globe.  They  subdued  Greece  itself  and,  flowing  eastwards, 
seized  upon  the  countries  which  Alexander  and  his  successors  had 
ruled.  The  whole  known  world,  indeed,  became  theirs  from  the 
Straits  of  Gibraltar  to  the  utmost  East.  They  did  not  possess 
the  genius  or  geniality  of  the  Greeks ;  their  qualities  were  strength 
and  justice;  and  their  arts  were  not  those  of  the  poet  and  the 
thinker,  but  those  of  the  soldier  and  the  judge.  They  broke 
down  the  divisions  between  the  tribes  of  men  and  compelled 
them  to  be  friendly  towards  each  other,  because  they  were  all 
alike  prostrate  beneath  one  iron  rule.  They  pierced  the  countries 
with  roads,  which  connected  them  with  Rome  and  were  such 
solid  triumphs  of  engineering  skill  that  some  of  them  remain  to 
this  day.  Along  these  highways  the  message  of  the  gospel  ran. 
Thus  the  Romans  also  proved  to  be  pioneers  for  Christianity,  for 
their  authority  in  so  many  countries  afforded  to  its  first  publishers 
facility  of  movement  and  protection  from  the  arbitrary  justice  of 
local  tribunals. 

^"j.  Meanwhile  the  third  nation  of  antiquity  had  also  completed 
its  conquest  of  the  world.  Not  by  force  of  arms  did  the  Jews  diffuse 
themselves,  as  the  Greeks  and  Romans  had  done.  For  centuries, 
indeed,  they  had  dreamed  of  the  coming  of  a  warlike  hero,  whose 
prowess  should  outshine  that  of  the  most  celebrated  Gentile 
conquerors.  But  he  never  came  ;  and  their  occupation  of  the 
centres  of  civilisation  had  to  take  place  in  a  more  silent  way. 
There  is  no  change  in  the  habits  of  any  nation  more  striking  than 
that  which  passed  over  the  Jewish  race  in  that  interval  of  four 
centuries  between  IMalachi  and  Matthew  of  which  we  have  no 
record  in  the  sacred  Scriptures.  In  the  Old  Testament  we  see 
the  Jews  pent  within  the  narrow  limits  of  Palestine,  engaged 
mainly  in  agricultural  pursuits  and  jealously  guarding  themselves 


62  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

from  intermingling  with  foreign  nations.  In  the  New  Testament 
we  fmd  them  still,  indeed,  clinging  with  a  desperate  tenacity  to 
Jerusalem  and  to  the  idea  of  their  own  separateness ;  but  their 
habits  and  abodes  have  been  completely  changed  :  they  have 
given  up  agriculture  and  betaken  themselves  with  extraordinary 
eagerness  and  success  to  commerce  ;  and  with  this  object  in  view 
they  have  diffused  themselves  everywhere — over  Africa,  Asia, 
Europe — and  there  is  not  a  city  of  any  importance  where  they 
are  not  to  be  found.  By  what  steps  this  extraordinary  change 
came  about  it  were  hard  to  tell  and  long  to  trace.  But  it  had 
taken  place  ;  and  this  turned  out  to  be  a  circumstance  of  extreme 
importance  for  the  early  history  of  Christianity.  Wherever  the 
Jews  were  settled,  they  had  their  synagogues,  their  sacred  Scrip- 
tures, their  uncompromising  belief  in  the  One  true  God.  Not 
only  so  ;  their  synagogues  everywhere  attracted  proselytes  from 
the  surrounding  Gentile  populations.  The  heathen  religions  were 
at  that  period  in  a  state  of  utter  collapse.  The  smaller  nations 
had  lost  faith  in  their  deities,  because  they  had  not  been  able  to 
defend  them  from  the  victorious  Greeks  and  Romans.  But  the 
conquerors  had  for  other  reasons  equally  lost  faith  in  their  own 
gods.  It  was  an  age  of  scepticism,  religious  decay  and  moral 
corruption.  But  there  are  always  natures  which  must  possess  a 
faith  in  which  they  can  trust.  These  were  in  search  of  a  religion, 
and  many  of  them  found  refuge  from  the  coarse  and  incredible 
myths  of  the  gods  of  polytheism  in  the  purity  and  monotheism  of 
the  Jewish  creed.  The  fundamental  ideas  of  this  creed  are  also 
the  foundations  of  the  Christian  faith.  Wherever  the  messengers 
of  Christianity  travelled,  they  met  with  people  with  whom  they 
had  many  religious  conceptions  in  common.  Their  first  sermons 
were  delivered  in  synagogues,  their  first  converts  were  Jews  and 
proselytes.  The  synagogue  was  the  bridge  by  which  Christianity 
crossed  over  to  the  heathen. 

yS.  Such,  then,  was  the  world  which  Paul  v/as  setting  out  to 
conquer.  It  was  a  world  everywhere  pervaded  w!i".i  these  three 
influences.      But  there  were  two  other  elements  of  population 


THE   WORK    AWAITING    THE    WORKER.  63 

^Yhicll  require  to  be  kept  in  mind,  as  both  of  them  supphed 
numerous  converts  to  the  early  preachers  :  there  were  the  original 
inhabitants  of  the  various  countries  ;  and  there  were  the  slaves, 
who  were  either  captives  taken  in  war  or  their  descendants,  and 
were  liable  to  be  shifted  from  place  to  place,  being  sold  according 
to  the  necessities  or  caprices  of  their  masters.  A  religion  whose 
chief  boast  it  was  to  preach  glad  tidings  to  the  poor  could  not 
neglect  these  down-trodden  classes,  and,  although  the  conflict  oi 
Christianity  with  the  forces  of  the  time  which  had  possession  of 
the  fate  of  the  world  naturally  attracts  attention,  it  must  not 
be  forgotten  that  its  best  triumph  has  always  consisted  in  the 
sweetening  and  brightening  of  the  lot  of  the  humble. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

ins  MISSIONARY  TRAVEIS. 

Paragraphs  79- 1 14. 

79-S8.  The  First  Journey. 
79,  80.   His  Companions. 

81.   Cyprus,     Change  of  his  Name. 
82-S7.   The  Mainland  of  Asia  IMinor. 

Z'i^.  Desertion  of  Mark ;  84.  Antioch  in  Pisidia 
and  Iconium  ;  85-87.  Lystra  and  Derbe  ;  88. 
Return. 

S9  loS.  The  Second  Journey. 
90,  91,   Separation  from  Barnabas. 
92,  93.   Unrecorded  Half  of  the  Journey. 
04-96.   Crossing  to  Europe. 
97-108.   Creece. 
97-101.   Macedonia. 

99.   Women  and  the  Gospel;   ico.   Liberality  of 
Churches.  , 

102-108.   Achaia. 

103-105.   Athens  ;  106-10S.  Corinth. 

109-114.  The  Third  Journey. 

Ephesus  ;  Polemic  against  Superstition. 


64 


CHAPTER    VI. 

HIS   MISSIONARY  TRAVELS. 

The  First  Journey. 

79.  From  the  beginning  it  had  been  the  wont  of  the  preachers 
of  Christianity  not  to  go  alone  on  their  expeditions,  but  two 
and  two.  Paul  improved  on  this  practice  by  going  generally  with 
two  companions,  one  of  them  being  a  younger  man,  who  perhaps 
took  charge  of  the  travelHng  arrangements.  On  his  first  journey 
his  comrades  were  Barnabas  and  John  Marl-:,  the  nephew  of 
Barnabas. 

80.  We  have  already  seen  that  Barnabas  may  be  called  the 
discoverer  of  Paul ;  and,  when  they  set  out  on  this  journey 
together,  he  was  probably  in  a  position  to  act  as  Paul's  patron  ; 
for  he  enjoyed  much  consideration  in  the  Christian  community. 
Converted  apparently  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  he  had  played  a 
leading  part  in  the  subsequent  events.  He  was  a  man  of  high 
social  position,  a  landed  proprietor  in  the  island  of  Cyprus;  and  he 
sacrificed  all  to  the  new  movement  into  which  he  had  been  drawn. 
In  the  outburst  of  enthusiasm  which  led  the  first  Christians  to 
share  their  property  with  one  another,  he  sold  his  estate  and  laid 
the  money  at  the  apostles'  feet.  He  was  constantly  employed 
thereafter  in  the  work  of  preaching,  and  he  had  so  remarkable  a 
gift  of  eloquence  that  he  was  called  the  Son  of  Exhortation.  An 
incident  which  occurred  at  a  later  stage  of  this  journey  gives  us  a 
glimpse  of  the  appearance  of  the  two  men.  When  the  inhabitants 
of  Lystra  mistook  them  for  gods,  they  called  Barnabas  Jupiter 

E 


66  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

and  Paul  Mercury.  Now,  in  ancient  art  Jupiter  was  always 
represented  as  a  tall,  majestic  and  benignant  figure,  while  Mercury 
was  the  small,  swift  messenger  of  the  father  of  gods  and  men. 
Probably  it  appeared,  therefore,  that  the  large,  gracious,  paternal 
Barnabas  was  the  head  and  director  of  the  expedition,  while 
Paul,  little  and  eager,  was  the  subordinate.  The  direction  in 
which  they  set  out,  too,  was  the  one  which  Barnabas  might 
naturally  have  been  expected  to  choose.  They  went  first  to 
Cyprus,  the  island  where  his  property  had  been  and  many  of  his 
friends  still  were.  It  lay  eighty  miles  to  the  south-west  of 
Seleucia,  the  seaport  of  Antioch,  and  they  might  reach  it  on  the 
very  day  they  left  their  head-quarters. 

8 1.  But,  although  Barnabas  appeared  to  be  the  leader,  the 
good  man  probably  knew  already  that  the  humble  words  of  the 
Baptist  might  be  used  by  himself  with  reference  to  his  companion, 
"  He  must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease."  At  all  events,  as  soon 
as  their  work  commenced  in  earnest,  this  was  shown  to  be  the 
relation  between  them.  After  going  through  the  length  of  t',e 
island,  from  east  to  west,  evangelizing,  they  arrived  at  Paphos, 
its  chief  town,  and  there  the  problems  they  had  come  out  to  face 
met  them  in  the  most  concentrated  form.  Paphos  was  the  seat 
of  the  worship  of  Venus,  the  goddess  of  love,  who  was  said  to 
have  been  born  of  the  foam  of  the  sea  at  this  very  spot ;  and  her 
worship  was  carried  on  with  the  wildest  licentiousness.  It  was  a 
picture  in  miniature  of  Greece  sunk  in  moral  decay.  Paphos  was 
also  the  seat  of  the  Roman  government,  and  in  the  proconsular 
chair  sat  a  man,  Sergius  Paulus,  whose  noble  character  but  utter 
lack  of  certain  faith  formed  a  companion  picture  of  the  inability 
of  Rome  at  that  epoch  to  meet  the  deepest  necessities  of  her  best 
sons.  In  the  proconsular  court,  playing  upon  the  inquirer's 
credulity,  a  Jewish  sorcerer  and  quack,  named  Elymas,  was 
flourishing,  whose  arts  were  a  picture  of  the  lowest  depths  to 
which  the  Jewish  character  could  sink.  The  whole  scene  was  a 
kind  of  miniature  of  the  world  whose  evils  the  missionaries  had 
set  forth  to  cure.      In   the   presence  of  these   exigencies   Paul 


HIS   MISSIONARY   TRAVELS:    FIRST  JOURNEY.  67 

unfolded  for  the  first  time  the  mighty  powers  which  lay  in  him. 
An  access  of  the  Spirit  seized  him  and  enabled  him  to  overcome 
all  obstacles.  He  covered  the  Jewish  magician  with  disgrace, 
converted  the  Roman  governor,  and  founded  in  the  town  a 
Christian  church  in  opposition  to  the  Greek  shrine.  From  that 
hour  Barnabas  sank  into  the  second  place,  and  Paul  took  his 
natural  position  as  the  head  of  the  mission.  We  no  longer  read, 
as  heretofore,  of  "  Barnabas  and  Saul,''  but  always  of  "  Paul  and 
Barnabas."  The  subordinate  had  become  the  leader  ;  and,  as  if 
to  mark  that  he  had  become  a  new  man  and  taken  a  new  place, 
he  was  no  longer  called  by  the  Jewish  name  of  Saul,  which  up  to 
this  point  he  had  borne,  but  by  the  name  of  Paul,  which  has  ever 
since  been  his  designation  among  Christians. 

82.  The  next  move  was  as  obviously  the  choice  of  the  new 
leader  as  the  first  one  had  been  due  to  Barnabas.  They  struck 
across  the  sea  to  Pcrga,  a  town  near  the  middle  of  the  southern 
coast  of  Asia  Minor,  then  right  up,  a  hundred  miles,  into  the 
mainland,  and  thence  eastward  to  a  point  almost  straight  north  of 
Tarsus.  This  route  carried  them  in  a  kind  of  half  circuit  through 
the  districts  of  Pamphylia,  Pisidia  and  Lycaonia,  which  border, 
to  the  west  and  north,  on  Cilicia,  PauPs  native  province ;  so  that, 
if  it  be  the  case  that  he  had  evangelized  Cilicia  already,  he  was 
now  merely  extending  his  labours  to  the  nearest  surrounding 
regions. 

83.  At  Perga,  the  starting-point  of  this  second  half  of  the 
journey,  a  misfortune  befell  the  expedition  :  John  Mark  deserted 
his  companions  and  sailed  for  home.  It  may  be  that  the  new 
position  assumed  by  Paul  had  given  him  offence,  though  his 
generous  uncle  felt  no  such  grudge  at  that  which  was  the  ordinance 
of  nature  and  of  God.  But  it  is  more  likely  that  the  cause  of  his 
withdrawal  was  dismay  at  the  dangers  upon  which  they  were 
about  to  enter.  These  were  such  as  might  well  strike  terror  even 
into  resolute  hearts.  Behind  Perga  rose  the  snow-clad  peaks  of 
the  Taurus  mountains,  which  had  to  be  penetrated  through  narrow 
passes,  where  crazy  bridges  spanned  the  rushing  torrents,  and  the 


68  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

castles  of  robbers,  who  watched  for  passing  travellers  to  pounce 
upon,  were  hidden  in  positions  so  inaccessible  that  even  the 
Roman  arms  had  not  been  able  to  exterminate  them.  When 
these  preliminary  dangers  were  surmounted,  the  prospect  beyond 
was  anything  but  inviting  :  the  country  to  the  north  of  the  Taurus 
was  a  vast  table-land,  more  elevated  than  the  summits  of  the 
highest  mountains  in  this  country,  and  scattered  over  with  solitary 
lakes,  irregular  mountain  masses  and  tracts  of  desert,  where  the 
population  Avas  rude  and  spoke  an  almost  endless  variety  of 
dialects.  These  things  terrified  Mark,  and  he  drew  back.  But 
his  companions  took  their  lives  in  their  hand  and  went  forward. 
To  them  it  was  enough  that  there  were  multitudes  of  perishing 
souls  there,  needing  the  salvation  of  which  they  were  the  heralds  ; 
and  Paul  knew  that  there  were  scattered  handfuls  of  his  own 
people  in  these  remote  regions  of  the  heathen. 

84.  Can  we  conceive  what  their  procedure  was  like  in  the 
towns  they  visited?  It  is  difficult,  indeed,  to  picture  it  to  our- 
selves. As  we  try  to  see  them  with  the  mind's  eye  entering  any 
place,  we  naturally  think  of  them  as  the  most  important  personages 
in  it ;  to  us  their  entry  is  as  august  as  if  they  had  been  carried  on 
a  car  of  victory.  Very  different,  however,  was  the  reality.  They 
entered  a  town  as  quietly  and  as  unnoticed  as  any  two  strangers 
who  may  walk  into  one  of  our  towns  any  morning.  Their  first 
care  was  to  get  a  lodging  ;  and  then  they  had  to  seek  for  employ- 
ment, for  they  worked  at  their  trade  wherever  they  went.  Nothing 
could  be  more  commonplace.  Who  could  dream  that  this  travel- 
stained  man,  going  from  one  tentmaker's  door  to  another,  seeking 
for  work,  was  carrying  the  future  of  the  world  beneath  his  robe  ! 
When  the  Sabbath  came  round,  they  would  cease  from  toil,  like 
the  other  Jews  in  the  place,  and  repair  to  the  synagogue.  They 
joined  in  the  psalms  and  prayers  with  the  other  worshippers  and 
listened  to  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures.  After  this  the  presiding 
elder  might  ask  if  any  one  present  had  a  word  of  exhortation  to 
deliver.  This  was  Paul's  opportunity.  He  would  rise  and,  with 
outstretched  hand,  begin  to  speak.     At  once  the  audience  recog- 


Ills    ^IISSIONARY   TkAVELS  :    FIRST   JOURNEY.  69 

nised  the  accents  of  the  cultivated  rabbi ;  and  the  strange  voice 
won  their  attention.  Taking  up  the  passages  which  had  been 
read,  he  would  soon  be  moving  forward  on  the  stream  of  Jewish 
history,  till  he  led  up  to  the  astounding  announcement  that  the 
Messiah  hoped  for  by  their  fathers  and  promised  by  their 
prophets  had  come  ;  and  he  had  been  sent  among  them  as  His 
apostle.  Then  would  follow  the  story  of  Jesus  :  it  was  true,  He 
had  been  rejected  by  the  authorities  of  Jerusalem  and  crucified, 
but  this  could  be  shown  to  have  taken  place  in  accordance  with 
prophecy;  and  His  resurrection  from  the  dead  was  an  infallible 
proof  that  He  had  been  sent  of  God  :  now  He  was  exalted  a 
Prince  and  a  Saviour  to  give  repentance  unto  Israel  and  the. 
remission  of  sins.  We  can  easily  imagine  the  sensation  produced 
by  such  a  sermon  from  such  a  preacher,  and  the  buzz  of  conver- 
sation which  would  arise  among  the  congregation  after  the  dis- 
mission of  the  synagogue.  During  the  week  it  would  become  the 
talk  of  the  town  ;  and  Paul  was  willing  to  converse  at  his  work 
or  in  the  leisure  of  the  evening  with  any  who  might  desire  further 
information.  Next  Sabbath  the  synagogue  would  be  crow^ded, 
not  with  Jews  only,  but  Gentiles  also,  who  were  curious  to  sec 
the  strangers  ;  and  Paul  now  unfolded  the  secret  that  salvation 
by  Jesus  Christ  was  as  free  to  Gentiles  as  to  Jews.  This  was 
generally  the  signal  for  the  Jews  to  contradict  and  blaspheme ; 
and,  turning  his  back  on  them,  Paul  addressed  himself  to  the 
Gentiles.  But  meantime  the  fanaticism  of  the  Jews  was  roused, 
and  they  either  stirred  up  the  mob  or  secured  the  interest  of  the 
authorities  against  the  strangers  ;  and  in  a  storm  of  popular 
tumult  or  by  the  breath  of  authority  the  messengers  of  the  gospel 
were  swept  out  of  the  town.  This  was  what  happened  at  Antioch 
in  Pisidia,  their  first  halting- place  in  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor  ; 
and  it  was  repeated  in  a  hundred  instances  in  Paul's  subsequent 
life. 

85.  Sometimes  they  did  not  get  off  so  easily.  At  Lystra,  for 
example,  they  found  themselves  in  a  population  of  rude  heathens, 
who  were  at  first  so  charmed  with  Paul's  winning  words  and 


76  THE   LIFE   OF    ST.    PAUL. 

impressed  with  the  appearance  of  the  preachers  that  they  took 
them  for  gods  and  were  on  the  point  of  offering  sacrifice  to  them. 
This  filled  the  missionaries  with  horror,  and  they  rejected  the 
intentions  of  the  crowd  with  unceremonious  haste.  A  sudden 
revolution  in  the  popular  sentiment  ensued,  and  Paul  was  stoned 
and  cast  out  of  the  city  apparently  dead. 

86.  Such  were  the  scenes  of  excitement  and  peril  through 
which  they  had  to  pass  in  this  remote  region.  But  their  enthusiasm 
never  flagged  ;  they  never  thought  of  turning  back,  but,  when 
they  were  driven  out  of  one  city,  moved  forward  to  another. 
And,  total  as  their  discomfiture  sometimes  appeared,  they  quitted 
no  city  without  leaving  behind  them  a  little  band  of  converts — • 
perhaps  a  few  Jews,  a  few  more  proselytes,  and  a  number  of 
Gentiles.  The  gospel  found  those  for  whom  it  was  intended — 
penitents  burdened  with  sin,  souls  dissatisfied  with  the  world  and 
their  ancestral  religion,  hearts  yearning  for  divine  sympathy  and 
love  ;  "  as  many  as  were  ordained  to  eternal  life  believed  ;"  and 
these  formed  in  every  city  the  nucleus  of  a  Christian  church. 
Even  at  Lystra,  where  the  defeat  seemed  so  utter,  a  little  group 
of  faithful  hearts  gathered  round  the  mangled  body  of  the  apostle 
outside  the  city  gates  ;  Eunice  and  Lois  were  there  with  tender 
womanly  ministrations  ;  and  young  Timothy,  as  he  looked  down 
on  the  pale  and  bleeding  face,  felt  his  heart  for  ever  knit  to  the 
hero  who  had  courage  to  suffer  to  the  death  for  his  faith. 

87.  In  the  intense  love  of  such  hearts  Paul  received  compen- 
sation for  suffering  and  injustice.  If,  as  some  suppose,  the  people 
of  this  region  formed  part  of  the  Galatian  churches,  we  see  from 
his  Epistle  to  them  the  kind  of  love  they  gave  him.  They 
received  him,  he  says,  as  an  angel  of  God,  nay,  as  Jesus  Christ 
Himself;  they  were  ready  to  liave  plucked  out  their  eyes  and 
given  them  to  him.  They  were  people  of  rude  kindness  and 
headlong  impulses  ;  their  native  religion  was  one  of  excitement 
and  demonstrativeness,  and  they  carried  these  characteristics 
into  the  new  faith  they  had  adopted.  They  were  filled  with  joy 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  revival  spread  on  every  hand  with 


HIS    MISSIONARY    TRAVELS:    SECOND    JOURNEY.  7 1 

great  rapidity,  till  the  word,  sounding  out  from  the  little  Christian 
communities,  was  heard  all  along  the  slopes  of  Taurus  and  down 
the  glens  of  the  Cestrus  and  Halys.  Paul's  w^arm  heart  could 
not  but  enjoy  such  an  outburst  of  affection.  He  responded  to  it 
by  giving  in  return  his  own  deep  love.  The  towns  mentioned  in 
their  itinerary  are  the  Pisidian  Antioch,  Iconium,  Lystra,  and 
Derbe  ;  but  when  at  the  last  of  them  he  had  finished  his  course 
and  the  way  lay  open  to  him  to  descend  by  the  Cilician  Gates  to 
Tarsus  and  thence  get  back  to  Antioch,  he  preferred  to  return  by 
the  way  he  had  come.  In  spite  of  the  most  imminent  danger  he 
revisited  all  these  places,  to  sec  his  dear  converts  again  and  cheer 
them  in  face  of  persecution  ;  and  he  ordained  elders  in  every  city 
to  watch  over  the  churches  in  his  absence. 

88.  At  length  the  missionaries  descended  again  from  these 
uplands  to  the  southern  coast  and  sailed  back  to  Antioch,  from 
which  they  had  set  out.  Worn  with  toil  and  suffering,  but  flushed 
with  the  joy  of  success,  they  appeared  among  those  who  had  sent 
them  forth  and  had  doubtless  been  following  them  with  their 
prayers  ;  and,  like  discoverers  returned  from  the  finding  of  a  new 
world,  they  related  the  miracles  of  grace  they  had  witnessed  in  , 
the  strange  world  of  the  heathen.  -^^ 

The  Second  Journey. 

89.  In  his  first  journey  Paul  may  be  said  to  have  been  only 
trying  his  wings  ;  for  his  course,  adventurous  though  it  was,  only 
swept  in  a  limited  circle  round  his  native  province.  In  his 
second  journey  he  performed  a  far  more  distant  and  perilous 
flight.  Indeed,  this  journey  was  not  only  the  greatest  he  achieved, 
but  perhaps  the  most  momentous  recorded  in  the  annals  of  the 
human  race.  In  its  issues  it  far  outrivalled  the  expedition  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  when  he  carried  the  arms  and  civilisation  of 
Greece  into  the  heart  of  Asia,  or  that  of  Csesar,  when  he  landed 
on  the  shores  of  Britain,  or  even  the  voyage  of  Columbus,  when 
he  discovered  a  new  world.     Yet,  when  he  set  out  on  it,  he  had 


72  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

no  idea  of  the  magnitude  which  it  was  to  assume  or  even  the 
direction  which  it  was  to  take.  After  enjoying  a  short  rest  at  the 
close  of  the  first  journey,  he  said  to  his  fellow-missionary,  "  Let 
us  go  again  and  visit  our  brethren  in  every  city  where  we  have 
preached  the  word  of  the  Lord  and  see  how  they  do."  It  was  the 
parental  longing  to  see  his  spiritual  children  which  was  drawing 
him  ;  but  God  had  far  more  extensive  designs,  which  opened  up 
before  him  as  he  went  forward. 

90.  Unfortunately  the  beginning  of  this  journey  was  marred  by 
a  dispute  between  the  two  friends  who  meant  to  perform  it 
together.  The  occasion  of  their  difference  was  the  offer  of  John 
Mark  to  accompany  them.  No  doubt  when  this  young  man  saw 
Paul  and  Barnabas  returning  safe  and  sound  from  the  undertaking 
which  he  had  deserted,  he  recognised  what  a  mistake  he  had 
made  ;  and  he  now  wished  to  retrieve  his  error  by  rejoining  them. 
Barnabas  naturally  wished  to  take  his  nephew,  but  Paul  abso- 
lutely refused.  The  one  missionary,  a  man  of  easy  kindliness, 
urged  the  duty  of  forgiveness  and  the  effect  which  a  rebuff  might 
have  on  a  beginner  ;  whilst  the  other,  full  of  zeal  for  God,  repre- 
sented the  danger  of  making  so  sacred  a  work  in  any  way 
dependent  on  one  who  could  not  be  relied  upon,  for  "  confidence 
in  an  unfaithful  man  in  time  of  trouble  is  like  a  broken  tooth  or  a 
foot  out  of  joint."  We  cannot  now  tell  which  of  them  was  in  the 
right  or  if  both  were  partly  wrong.  Both  of  them,  at  all  events, 
suffered  for  it :  Paul  had  to  part  in  anger  from  the  man  to  whom 
he  probably  owed  more  than  to  any  other  human  being ;  and 
Barnabas  was  separated  from  the  grandest  spirit  of  the  age. 

91.  They  never  met  again.  This  was  not  due,  however,  to  an 
unchristian  continuation  of  their  quarrel ;  the  heat  of  passion 
soon  cooled  down  and  the  old  love  returned.  Paul  mentions 
Barnabas  with  honour  in  his  writings,  and  in  the  very  last  of  his 
Epistles  he  sends  for  Mark  to  come  to  him  at  Rome,  expressly 
adding  that  he  is  profitable  to  h'm  for  ministry — the  very  thing 
he  had  disbelieved  about  him  before.  In  the  meantime,  however, 
their  difference  separated  them.     They  agreed  to  divide  between 


HIS    MISSIONARY    TRAVELS  :    SECOND    JOURNEY.  73 

them  the  region  they  had  evangehzcd  together.  Barnabas  and 
Mark  went  away  to  Cyprus  ;  and  Paul  undertook  to  visit  the 
churches  on  the  mainland.  As  companion  he  took  with  him 
Silas,  or  Silvanus,  in  the  place  of  Barnabas  ;  and  he  had  not 
proceeded  far  on  his  new  journey  when  he  met  with  one  to  take 
the  place  of  Mark.  This  was  Timothy,  a  convert  he  had  made 
at  Lystra  in  his  first  journey  ;  he  was  youthful  and  gentle  ;  and 
he  continued  a  faithful  companion  and  a  constant  comfort  to  the 
apostle  to  the  end  of  his  life. 

92.  In  pursuance  of  the  purpose  with  which  he  had  set  out, 
Paul  commenced  this  journey  by  revisiting  the  churches  in  whose 
founding  he  had  taken  part.  Beginning  at  Antioch  and  pro- 
ceeding in  a  north-westerly  direction,  he  did  this  work  in  Syria, 
Cilicia  and  other  parts,  till  he  reached  the  centre  of  Asia  Minor, 
where  the  primary  object  of  his  journey  was  completed.  liut, 
when  a  man  is  on  the  right  road,  all  sorts  of  opportunities  open 
up  before  him.  When  he  had  passed  through  the  provinces  which 
he  had  visited  before,  new  desires  to  penetrate  still  farther  began 
to  fire  his  mind,  and  Providence  opened  up  the  way.  He  still 
went  forward  in  the  same  direction  through  Phrygia  and  Galatia. 
Then  Bithynia,  a  province  lying  along  the  shore  of  the  Black 
Sea,  and  Asia,  a  densely  populated  province  in  the  west  of  Asia 
Minor,  seemed  to  invite  him  and  he  wished  to  enter  them.  But 
the  Spirit  who  guided  his  footsteps  indicated,  by  some  means 
unknown  to  us,  that  these  provinces  were  shut  to  him  in  the 
meantime  ;  and,  pushing  onwards  in  the  direction  in  which  his 
divine  Guide  permitted  him  to  go,  he  found  himself  at  Troas,  a 
town  on  the  north-west  coast  of  Asia  Minor. 

93.  Thus  he  had  travelled  from  Antioch  in  the  south-east  to 
Troas  in  the  north-west  of  Asia  Minor,  a  distance  as  far  as  from 
Land's  End  to  John  o'  Groat's,  evangelizing  all  the  w^ay.  It 
must  have  taken  months,  perhaps  even  years.  Yet  of  this  long, 
laborious  period  we  possess  no  details  whatever  except  such 
features  of  his  intercourse  with  the  Galatians  as  may  be  gathered 


74  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

from  the  Epistle  to  that  church.  The  truth  is  that,  thrilling  as 
are  the  notices  of  Paul's  career  given  in  the  Acts,  this  record  is  a 
very  meagre  and  imperfect  one,  and  his  life  was  far  fuller  of 
adventure,  of  labours  and  sufferings  for  Christ,  than  even  Luke's 
narrative  would  lead  us  to  suppose.  The  plan  of  the  Acts  is  to 
tell  only  what  was  most  novel  and  characteristic  in  each  journey, 
while  it  passes  over,  for  instance,  all  his  repeated  visits  to  the 
same  scenes.  There  are  thus  great  blanks  in  the  history,  v.'hich 
were  in  reality  as  full  of  interest  as  the  portions  of  his  life  which 
are  fully  described.  There  is  a  startling  proof  of  this  in  an 
Epistle  which  he  wrote  within  the  period  covered  by  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles.  His  argument  calling  upon  him  to  enumerate  some 
of  his  outstanding  adventures,  "  Are  they  ministers  of  Christ  ? " 
he  asks,  "  I  am  more  ;  in  labours  more  abundant,  in  stripes  above 
measure,  in  prisons  more  frequent,  in  deaths  oft.  Of  the  Tews 
five  times  received  I  foitv  stripes  save  one.  Thrice  was  I  beaten 
with  rods.  Once  vyas  J  stoned.  Thrice  I  suffered  shipwreck.  A 
night  and  a  day  have  I  been  in  the  deep.  In  journeyings  often, 
in  perils  of  waters,  in  perils  of  robbers,  in  perils  by  mine  own 
countrymen,  in  perils  by  the  heathen,  in  perils  in  the  city,  in 
perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  perils  in  the  sea,  in  perils  among  false 
brethren  ;  in  weariness  and  painfulness,  in  watchings  often,  in 
hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings  often,  in  cold  and  nakedness."  Now, 
of  the  items  of  this  extraordinary  catalogue  the  book  of  Acts 
mentions  very  few ;  of  the  five  Jewish  scourgings  it  notices  not 
one,  of  the  three  Roman  beatings  only  one ;  the  one  stoning  it 
records,  but  not  one  of  the  three  shipwrecks,  for  the  shipwreck  so 
fully  detailed  in  the  Acts  happened  later.  It  was  no  part  of  the 
design  of  Luke  to  exaggerate  the  figure  of  the  hero  he  was 
painting ;  his  brief  and  modest  narrative  comes  far  short  even  of 
the  reality  ;  and,  as  we  pass  over  the  few  simple  words  into  which 
he  condenses  the  story  of  months  or  years,  our  imagination 
requires  to  be  busy,  filling  up  the  outline  with  toils  and  pains  at 
least  equal  to  those  whose  memory  he  has  preserved. 


HIS    MISSIONARY   TRAVELS  :   SECOND   JOURNEY.  75 

94.  It  would  appear  that  Paul  reached  Troas  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  guiding  Spirit  without  being  aware  whither  his  steps 
were  next  to  be  turned.  But  could  he  doubt  what  the  divine 
intention  was  when,  gazing  across  the  silver  streak  of  the 
Hellespont,  he  beheld  the  shores  of  Europe  on  the  other  side  ? 
He  was  now  within  the  charmed  circle  where  for  ages  civilisation 
had  had  her  home  ;  and  he  could  not  be  entirely  ignorant  of  those 
stories  of  war  and  enterprise  and  those  legends  of  love  and  valour 
Vv^hich  have  made  it  for  ever  bright  and  dear  to  the  heart  of  man- 
kind. At  only  four  miles'  distance  lay  the  Plain  of  Troy,  where 
Europe  and  Asia  encountered  each  other  in  the  struggle  cele- 
brated in  Homer's  immortal  song.  Not  far  off  Xerxes,  sitting  on  a 
marble  throne,  reviewed  the  three  millions  of  Asiatics  with  which 
he  meant  to  bring  Europe  to  his  feet.  On  the  other  side  of  that 
narrow  strait  lay  Greece  and  Rome,  the  centres  from  which 
issued  the  learning,  the  commerce  and  the  armies  which  governed 
the  world.  Could  his  heart,  so  ambitious  for  the  glory  of  Christ, 
fail  to  be  fired  with  the  desire  to  cast  himself  upon  these 
strongholds,  or  could  he  doubt  that  the  Spirit  was  leading  him 
forward  to  this  enterprise  ?  He  knew  that  Greece,  with  all  her 
wisdom,  lacked  that  knowledge  which-  makes  wise  unto  salvation, 
and  that  the  Romans,  though  they  were  the  concjuerors  of  this 
world,  did  not  know  the  way  of  winning  an  inheritance  in  the 
world  that  is  to  come ;  but  in  his  breast  he  carried  the  secret 
which  they  both  required. 

95.  It  may  have  been  such  thoughts,  dimly  moving  in  his  mind, 
that  projected  themselves  into  the  vision  which  he  saw  at  Troas ; 
or  was  it  the  vision  which  first  awakened  the  idea  of  crossing  to 
Europe?  As  he  lay  asleep,  with  the  murmur  of  the  ^gean  in  his 
ears,  he  saw  a  man  standing  on  the  opposite  coast,  on  which  he 
had  been  looking  before  he  went  to  rest,  beckoning  and  crying, 
"  Come  over  into  Macedonia  and  help  us."  That  figure  repre- 
sented Europe,  and  its  cry  for  help  Europe's  need  of  Christ. 
Paul  recognised  in  it  a  divine  summons;  and  the  very  next 
sunset  which  bathed  the  Hellespont  in  its  golden  light  shone 


v^ 


76  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

upon  his  figure  seated  on  the  deck  of  a  ship  whose  prow  was 
moving  towards  the  shore  of  Macedonia. 

96.  In  this  passage  of  Paul,  from  Asia  to  Europe,  a  great 
providential  decision  was  taking  effect,  of  which,  as  children  of 
the  West,  we  cannot  think  without  the  profoundest  thankfulness. 
Christianity  arose  in  Asia  and  among  an  Oriental  people  ;  and  it 
might  have  been  expected  to  spread  first  among  those  races  to 
v/hich  the  Jews  were  most  akin.  Instead  of  coming  west,  it  might 
have  gone  eastwards.  It  might  have  penetrated  into  Arabia  and 
taken  possession  of  those  regions  where  the  faith  of  the  False 
Prophet  now  holds  swaj'.  It  might  have  visited  the  wandering 
tribes  of  Central  Asia,  and,  piercing  its  way  down  through  the 
passes  of  the  Himalayas,  reared  its  temples  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ganges,  the  Indus  and  the  Godavery.  It  might  have  travelled 
farther  east  to  deliver  the  swarming  millions  of  China  from  the 
cold  secularism  of  Confucius.  Had  it  done  so,  missionaries  from 
India  and  Japan  might  have  been  coming  to  England  at  the 
present  day  to  tell  the  story  of  the  Cross.  But  Providence  con- 
ferred on  Europe  a  blessed  priority,  and  the  fate  of  our  continent 
was  decided  when  Paul  crossed  the  Hellespont. 

97.  As  Greece  lay  nearer  than  Rome  to  the  shore  of  Asia,  its 
conquest  for  Christ  was  the  great  achievement  of  this  second 
missionary  journey.  Like  the  rest  of  the  world  it  was  at  that  time 
under  the  sway  of  Rome,  and  the  Romans  had  divided  it  into 
two  provinces — Macedonia  in  the  north  and  Achaia  in  the  south. 
Macedonia  was  therefore  the  first  scene  of  Paul's  Greek  mission. 
It  was  traversed  from  east  to  west  by  a  great  Roman  road,  along 
which  the  missionary  moved,  and  the  places  where  we  have 
accounts  of  his  labours  are  Philippi,  Thessalonica  and  Beroea. 

98.  The  Greek  character  in  this  northern  province  was  much 
less  corrupted  than  in  the  more  polished  society  of  the  south.  In 
the  Macedonian  population  there  still  lingered  something  of  the 
vigour  and  courage  which  four  centuries  before  had  made  its 
soldiers  the  conquerors  of  the  world.     The  churches  which  Paul 


HIS    MISSIONARY   TRAVELS  :    SECOND   JOURNEY.  77 

founded  here  gave  him  more  comfort  than  any  he  established 
elsewhere.  There  are  none  of  his  Epistles  more  cheerful  and 
cordial  than  those  to  the  Thessalonians  and  Philippians  ;  and,  as 
he  wrote  the  latter  late  in  life,  their  perseverance  in  adhering  to 
the  gospel  must  have  been  as  remarkable  as  the  welcome  they 
gave  it  at  the  first.  At  Beroea  he  even  met  with  a  generous  and 
open-minded  synagogue  of  Jews — the  rarest  occurrence  in  his 
experience. 

99.  A  prominent  feature  of  the  work  in  Macedonia  was  the 
part  taken  in  it  by  women.  Amidst  the  general  decay  of  religions 
throughout  the  world  at  this  period,  many  w'omen  everywhere 
sought  satisfaction  for  their  religious  instincts  in  the  pure  faith  of 
the  synagogue.  In  Macedonia,  perhaps  on  account  of  its  sound 
morality,  these  female  proselytes  were  more  numerous  than  else- 
where ;  and  they  pressed  in  large  numbers  into  the  Christian 
church.  This  was  a  good  omen  ;  it  was  a  prophecy  of  the  happy 
change  in  the  lot  of  woman  which  Christianity  was  to  produce  in 
the  nations  of  the  West.  If  man  owes  much  to  Christ,  woman 
owes  still  more.  He  has  delivered  her  from  the  degradation  cf 
being  man's  slave  and  plaything  and  raised  her  to  be  his  friend  and 
his  equal  before  Heaven  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  a  new  glory 
has  been  added  to  Christ's  religion  by  the  fineness  and  dignity 
with  which  it  is  invested  when  embodied  in  the  female  character. 
These  things  were  vividly  illustrated  in  the  earliest  footsteps  of 
Christianity  on  our  continent.  The  first  convert  in  Europe  was  a 
woman :  at  the  first  Christian  service  held  on  European  soil  the 
heart  of  Lydia  was  opened  to  receive  the  truth  ;  and  the  change 
which  passed  upon  her  prefigured  what  w^oman  in  Europe  was 
to  become  under  the  influence  of  Christianity.  In  the  same  town 
of  Philippi  there  was  seen  too  at  the  same  time  an  equally 
representative  image  of  the  condition  of  woman  in  Europe  before 
the  gospel  reached  it,  in  a  poor  girl,  possessed  of  a  spirit  of 
divination  and  held  in  slavery  by  men  who  were  making  gain 
out  of  her  misfortune,  whom  Paul  restored  to  sanity.  Her  misery 
and  degradation  were  a  symbol  of  the  disfiguration,  as  Lydia's 


^8  THE   LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

sweet   and   benevolent   Christian   character   was   of    the   trans- 
figuration of  womanhood. 

loo.  Another  feature  which  prominently  marked  the  Macedonian 
churches  was  the  spirit  of  liberality.  They  insisted  on  supplying 
the  bodily  wants  of  the  missionaries  ;  and,  even  after  Paul  had 
left  them,  they  sent  gifts  to  meet  his  necessities  in  other  towns. 
Long  afterwards,  when  he  was  a  prisoner  at  Rome,  they  deputed 
Epaphroditus,  one  of  their  teachers,  to  carry  thither  similar  gifts 
to  him  and  to  act  as  his  attendant.  Paul  accepted  the  generosity 
of  these  loyal  hearts,  though  in  other  places  he  would  work  his 
fingers  to  the  bone  and  forego  his  natural  rest  rather  than  accept 
of  similar  favours.  Nor  was  their  willingness  to  give  due  to 
superior  wealth.  On  the  contrary,  they  gave  out  of  deep  poverty. 
They  were  poor  to  begin  with,  and  they  were  made  poorer  by  the 
persecutions  which  they  had  to  endure.  These  were  very  severe 
after  Paul  left,  and  they  lasted  long.  Of  course  they  had  broken- 
first  of  all  on  Paul  himself.  Though  he  was  so  successful  in 
Macedonia,  he  was  swept  out  of  every  town  at  last  like  the  off- 
scourings of  all  things.  It  was  generally  by  the  Jews  that  this 
was  brought  about.  They  either  fanaticized  the  mob  against 
him,  or  accused  him  before  the  Roman  authorities  of  introducing 
a  new  religion  or  disturbing  the  peace  or  proclaiming  a  king  who 
would  be  a  rival  to  Caesar.  They  Avould  neither  go  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  themselves  nor  suffer  others  to  enter. 

loi.  But  God  protected  His  servant.  At  Philippi  He  delivered 
him  from  prison  by  a  physical  miracle  and  by  a  miracle  of  grace 
still  more  marvellous  wrought  upon  his  cruel  jailor ;  and  in  other 
towns  He  saved  him  by  more  natural  means.  In  spite  of  bitter 
opposition,  churches  were  founded  in  city  after  city,  and  from 
these  the  glad  tidings  sounded  out  over  the  whole  province  of 
Macedonia. 

I02.  When,  leaving  Macedonia,  Paul  proceeded  south  into 
Achaia,  he  entered  the  real  Greece — the  paradise  of  genius  and 
renown.     The  memorials  of  the  country's  greatness  rose  around 


HIS    MISSIONARY   TRAVELS  :    SECOND    JOURNEY.  79 

him  on  his  journey.  As  he  quitted  Bcroea,  he  could  see  behind 
him  the  snowy  peaks  of  Mount  Olympus,  where  the  deities  of 
Greece  had  been  supposed  to  dwell.  Soon  he  was  sailing  past 
Thermopylae,  where  the  immortal  Three  Hundred  stood  against 
the  barbarian  myriads  ;  and,  as  his  voyage  neared  its  close,  he 
saw  before  him  the  island  of  Salamis,  where  again  the  existence 
of  Greece  was  saved  from  extinction  by  the  valour  of  her  sons. 

103.  His  destination  was  Athens,  the  capital  of  the  country. 
As  he  entered  the  city,  he  could  not  be  insensible  to  the  great 
memories  which  clung  to  its  streets  and  monuments.  Here  the 
human  mind  had  blazed  forth  with  a  splendour  it  has  never 
exhibited  elsewhere.  In  the  golden  age  of  its  history  Athens 
possessed  more  men  of  the  very  highest  genius  than  have  ever 
lived  in  any  other  city.  To  this  day  their  names  invest  hers  with 
glory.  Yet  even  in  Paul's  day  the  living  Athens  was  a  thing 
of  the  past.  Four  hundred  years  had  elapsed  since  its  golden 
age,  and  in  the  course  of  these  centuries  it  had  experienced  a  sad 
decline.  Philosophy  had  degenerated  into  sophistry,  art  into 
dilettantism,  oratory  into  rhetoric,  poetry  into  versemaking.  It 
was  a  city  living  on  its  past.  Yet  it  still  had  a  great  name  and 
was  full  of  culture  and  learning  of  a  kind.  It  swarmed  with 
so-called  philosophers  of  different  schools,  and  with  teachers  and 
professors  of  every  variety  of  knowledge ;  and  thousands  of 
strangers  of  the  wealthy  class,  collected  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  lived  there  for  study  or  the  gratification  of  their  mental 
tastes.  It  still  represented  to  an  intelligent  visitor  one  of  the 
great  factors  in  the  life  of  the  world. 

104.  With  the  amazing  versatility  which  enabled  him  to  be  all 
things  to  all  men,  Paul  adapted  himself  to  this  population  also. 
In  the  market-place,  the  lounge  of  the  learned,  he  entered  into 
conversation  with  students  and  philosophers,  as  Socrates  had 
been  wont  to  do  on  the  same  spot  five  centuries  before.  But  he 
found  even  less  appetite  for  the  truth  than  the  wisest  of  the 
Greeks  had  met  with.  Instead  of  the  love  of  truth  an  insatiable 
intellectual  curiosity  possessed  the  inhabitants.     This  made  them 


8o  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL.  ^ 

willing  enough  to  tolerate  the  advances  of  any  one  bringing 
before  them  a  new  doctrine  ;  and  as  long  as  Paul  was  merely 
developing  the  speculative  part  of  his  message,  they  listened  to 
him  with  pleasure.  Their  interest  seemed  to  deepen,  and  at  last 
a  multitude  of  them  conveyed  him  to  Mars'  Hill,  in  the  very 
centre  of  the  splendours  of  their  city,  and  requested  a  full  state- 
ment of  his  faith.  He  complied  with  their  wishes  and  in  the 
magnificent  speech  he  made  them  there  gratified  their  peculiar 
tastes  to  the  full,  as  in  sentences  of  the  noblest  eloquence  he 
unfolded  the  great  truths  of  the  unity  of  God  and  the  unity  of 
man,  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  Christianity.  But,  when  he 
advanced  from  these  preliminaries  to  touch  the  consciences  of  his 
audience  and  address  them  about  their  own  salvation,  they 
departed  in  a  body  and  left  him  talking. 

105.  He  quitted  Athens  and  never  returned  to  it.  Nowhere 
else  had*  he  so  completely  failed.  He  had  been  accustomed  to 
endure  the  most  violent  persecution  and  to  rally  from  it  with  a 
light  heart.  But  there  is  something  worse  than  persecution  to  a 
fiery  faith  like  his,  and  he  had  to  encounter  it  here  :  his  message 
roused  neither  interest  nor  opposition.  The  Athenians  never 
thought  of  persecuting  him  ;  they  simply  did  not  care  what  the 
babbler  said  ;  and  this  cold  disdain  cut  him  more  deeply  than  the 
stones  of  the  mob  or  the  lictor's  rods.  Never  perhaps  was  he  so 
much  depressed.  When  he  left  Athens,  he  moved  on  to  Corinth, 
the  other  great  city  of  Achaia  ;  and  he  tells  us  himself  that  he 
arrived  there  in  weakness  and  in  fear  and  in  much  trembling. 

106.  There  was  in  Corinth  enough  of  the  spirit  of  Athens  to 
prevent  these  feelings  from  being  easily  assuaged.  Corinth  was  to 
Athens  very  much  what  Glasgow  is  to  Edinburgh.  The  one  was 
the  commercial,  the  other  the  intellectual  capital  of  the  country. 
Even  the  situations  of  the  two  places  in  Greece  resembled  in  some 
respects  those  of  these  two  cities  in  Scotland.  But  the  Corinthians 
also  were  full  of  disputatious  curiosity  and  intellectual  hauteur. 
Paul  dreaded  the  same  kind  of  reception  as  he  had  received 
in  Athens.     Could  it  be  that  these  were   people   for  whom  the 


HIS    MISSIONARY    TRAVELS:    SECOND    JOURNEY.  Si 

gospel  had  no  message  ?  This  was  the  staggering  question  which 
was  making  him  tremble.  '  There  seemed  to  be  nothing  in  them 
on  which  the  gospel  could  take  hold  :  they  appeared  to  feel  no 
wants  which  it  could  satisfy. 

107.  There  were  other  elements  of  discouragement  in  Corinth. 
It  was  the  Paris  of  ancient  times — a  city  rich  and  luxurious, 
wholly  abandoned  to  sensuality.  Vice  displayed  itself  without 
shame  in  forms  which  struck  deadly  despair  into  Paul's  pure 
Jewish  mind.  Could  men  be  rescued  from  the  grasp  of  such 
monstrous  vices  ?  Besides,  the  opposition  of  the  Jews  rose  here 
to  unusual  virulence.  He  was  compelled  at  length  to  depart 
from  the  synagogue  altogether,  and  did  so  with  expressions  of 
strong  feeling.  Was  the  soldier  of  Christ  going  to  be  driven  oft' 
the  field  and  forced  to  confess  that  the  gospel  was  not  suited  for 
cultured  Greece  ?     It  looked  like  it. 

108.  But  the  tide  turned.  At  the  critical  moment  Paul  was 
visited  with  one  of  those  visions  which  were  wont  to  be  vouch- 
safed to  him  at  the  most  trying  and  decisive  crises  of  his  history. 
The  Lord  appeared  to  him  in  the  night,  saying,  "  Be  not  afraid, 
but  speak,  and  hold  not  thy  peace ;  for  I  am  with  thee,  and  no 
man  shall  set  on  thee  to  hurt  thee  ;  for  I  have  much  people  in 
this  city."  The  apostle  took  courage  again,  and  the  causes  of 
discouragement  began  to  clear  away.  The  opposition  of  the  Jews 
was  broken,  when  they  hurried  him  with  mob  violence  before  the 
Roman  governor,  Gallio,  but  were  dismissed  from  his  tribunal 
with  ignominy  and  disdain.  The  very  president  of  the  synagogue 
became  a  Christian,  and  conversions  multiplied  among  the 
native  Corinthians.  Paul  enjoyed  the  solace  of  living  under  the 
roof  of  two  leal-hearted  friends  of  his  own  race  and  his  own 
occupation,  Aquila  and  Priscilla.  He  remained  a  year  and  a 
half  in  the  city  and  founded  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  his 
churches,  thus  planting  the  standard  of  the  cross  in  Achaia  also 
and  proving  that  the  gospel  was  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation 
even  in  the  headquarters  of  the  world's  wisdom. 


82  THE    LIFE   OF    ST.    PAUL. 


The  Third  Jom-ney. 


109.  It  must  have  been  a  thrilling  story  Paul  had  to  tell  at 
Jerusalem  and  Antioch  when  he  returned  from  his  second 
journey ;  but  he  had  no  disposition  to  rest  on  his  laurels,  anc' 
it  was  not  long  before  he  set  out  on  his  third  journey. 

no.  It  might  have  been  expected  that,  having  in  his  second 
journey  planted  the  gospel  in  Greece,  he  would  in  his  third 
journey  have  made  Rome  his  aim.  But,  if  the  map  be  referred 
to,  it  will  be  observed  that,  in  the  midst,  between  the  regions  of 
Asia  Minor  which  he  evangelized  during  his  first  journey  and  the 
provinces  of  Greece  in  which  he  planted  churches  in  his  second 
journey,  there  was  a  hiatus — the  populous  province  of  Asia,  in 
the  west  of  Asia  Minor.  It  was  on  this  region  that  he  descended 
in  his  third  journey.  Staying  for  no  less  than  three  years  in 
Tphesus,  its  capital,  he  effectively  filled  up  the  gap  and  con- 
nected together  the  conquests  of  his  former  campaigns.  This 
journey  included,  indeed,  at  its  beginning,  a  visitation  of  all  the 
churches  formerly  founded  in  Asia  Minor,  and,  at  its  close,  a 
flying  visit  to  the  churches  in  Greece ;  but,  true  to  his  plan  of 
dwelling  only  on  what  was  new  in  each  journey,  the  author  of  the 
Acts  has  supplied  us  only  with  the  details  relating  to  Ephesus. 

111.  This  city  was  at  that  time  the  Liverpool  of  the  Medi- 
terranean. It  possessed  a  splendid  harbour,  in  which  was 
concentrated  the  traffic  of  the  sea  which  was  then  the  highway 
of  the  nations  ;  and,  as  Liverpool  has  behind  her  the  great  towns 
of  Lancashire,  so  had  Ephesus  behind  and  around  her  such  cities 
as  those  mentioned  along  with  her  in  the  epistles  to  the  churches 
in  the  book  of  Revelation — Smyrna,  Pergamos,  Thyatira,  Sardis, 
Philadelphia,  and  Laodicea.  It  was  a  city  of  vast  wealth,  and  it 
was  given  over  to  every  kind  of  pleasure,  the  fame  of  its  theatre 
and  racecourse  being  world-wide. 

112.  But  Ephesus  was  still  more  famous  as  a  sacred  city.  It 
was  a  seat  of  the  worship  of  the  goddess  Diana,  whose  temple 
was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  shrines  of  the  ancient  world. 


HIS    MISSIONARY   TPsAVELS  :    THIRD    JOURNEY.  83 

This  temple  was  enormously  rich  and  harboured  great  numbers 
of  priests.  It  was  a  resort  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  of  flocks 
of  pilgrims  from  the  surrounding  regions  ;  and  the  inhabitants  of 
the  town  flourished  by  ministering  in  various  ways  to  this  super- 
stition. The  goldsmiths  drove  a  trade  in  little  silver  models  of 
the  image  of  the  goddess  which  the  temple  contained  and  which 
was  said  to  have  fallen  from  heaven.  Copies  of  the  mystic 
characters  engraven  on  this  ancient  relic  were  sold  as  charms. 
The  city  swarmed  with  wizards,  fortune-tellers,  interpreters  of 
dreams  and  other  gentry  of  the  like  kind,  who  traded  on  the 
mariners,  merchants  and  pilgrims  who  frequented  the  port. 

113.  Paul's  work  had  therefore  to  assume  the  form  of  a  polemic 
against  superstition.  He  wrought  such  astonishing  miracles  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  that  some  of  the  Jewish  palterers  with  the 
invisible  world  attempted  to  cast  out  devils  by  invoking  the 
same  name ;  but  the  attempt  issued  in  their  signal  discomfiture. 
Other  professors  of  magical  arts  were  converted  to  the  Christian 
faith  and  burnt  their  books.  The  vendors  of  superstitious  objects 
saw  their  trade  slipping  through  their  fingers.  To  such  an 
extent  did  this  go  at  one  of  the  festivals  of  the  goddess  that  the 
silversmiths,  whose  traffic  in  little  images  had  been  specially 
smitten,  organized  a  riot  against  Paul,  which  took  place  in  the 
theatre  and  was  so  successful  that  he  was  forced  to  quit  the 
city. 

114.  But  he  did  not  go  before  Christianity  was  firmly  estab- 
lished in  Ephesus,  and  the  beacon  of  the  gospel  was  twinkling 
brightly  on  the  Asian  coast,  in  response  to  that  which  was  shining 
from  the  shores  of  Greece  on  the  other  side  of  the  vEgean. 
We  have  a  monument  of  his  success  in  the  churches  lying  all 
around  Ephesus  which  St.  John  addressed  a  few  years  afterwards 
in  the  Apocalypse  ;  for  they  were  probably  the  indirect  fruit 
of  Paul's  labours.  But  we  have  a  far  more  astonishing  monu- 
ment of  it  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  This  is  perhaps 
the  profoundest  book  in  existence ;  yet  its  author  evidently 
expected  the  Ephesians  to   understand  it.     If  the  orations  of 


84  I'HE   LIFE   OF   ST.    PAtJL. 

Demosthenes,  with  their  closely  packed  arguments  between 
whose  articulations  even  a  knife  cannot  be  thrust,  be  a  monument 
of  the  intellectual  greatness  of  the  Greece  which  listened  to  them 
with  pleasure  ;  if  the  plays  of  Shakspeare,  with  their  deep  views  of 
life  and  their  obscure  and  complex  language,  be  a  testimony  to 
the  strength  of  mind  of  the  Elizabethan  Age,  which  could  enjoy 
such  solid  fare  in  a  place  of  entertainment ;  then  the  Epistle  to 
the  Ephesians,  which  sounds  the  lowest  depths  of  Christian 
doctrine  and  scales  the  loftiest  heights  of  Christian  experience, 
is  a  testimony  to  the  proficiency  which  Paul's  converts  had 
attained  under  his  preaching  at  Ephesus. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

niS  WRITIXGS  AND  HIS  CHARACTER. 

Paragraphs  1 15-127. 

115-119.   His  Writings. 

115,  116.   Principal  Literary  Period. 

117.  Form  of  his  Writings. 

118.  His  Style. 

119.  Inspiration. 

120-127.  llis  Character. 

121.   Combination  of  Natural  and  Spiritual. 
122-127.   Characteristics. 

122.  Physique;  123.  Enterprise;  124.  Influence 
over  Men;  125,  Unselfishness;  126.  Sense 
of  having  a  Mission  ;  127.  Personal  Devotion 
to  Ciuist, 


G6 


CHAPTER    VIT. 

HIS  WRITINGS   AND   HIS   CHARACTER. 

115.  It  has  been  mentioned  that  the  third  missionary  journey 
closed  with  a  flying  visit  to  the  churches  of  Greece.  This 
visit  lasted  several  months ;  but  in  the  Acts  it  is  passed  over 
in  two  or  three  verses.  Probably  it  was  little  marked  with  those 
exciting  incidents  which  naturally  tempt  the  biographer  into 
detail.  Yet  we  know  from  other  sources  that  it  was  nearly  the 
most  important  part  of  Paul's  life  ;  for  in  this  quarter  of  a  year  he 
wrote  the  greatest  of  all  his  Epistles,  that  to  the  Romans,  and 
two  others  only  less  important — that  to  the  Galatians  and  the 
Second  to  the  Corinthians. 

116.  We  have  thus  alighted  on  the  portion  of  his  life  most 

signalised  by  literary  work.     Overpowering  as  is  the  impression 

of  the  remarkablcness  of  this  man  produced  by  following  him,  as 

we  have  been  doing,  as  he  hurries  from  province  to  province, 

from  continent  to  continent,  over  land  and  sea,  in  pursuit  of  the 

object  to  which  he  was  devoted,  this  impression  is  immensely 

deepened  when  we  remember  that   he  was   at  the   same   time 

the  greatest  thinker  of  his  age,  if  not  of  any  age,  and,  in  the 

midst  of  his  outward  labours,  was  producing  writings  which  have 

ever  since  been  among  the  mightiest  intellectual  forces  of  the 

world,  and  are  still  growing  in  their  influence.     In  this  respect  he 

rises  sheer  above  all  other  evangelists  and  missionaries.     Some 

of  them  may  have  approached  him  in  certain  respects — Xavicr  or 

Livingstone  in  the   world-conquering   instinct,    St.    Bernard   or 

»7 


8S  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

Whitefield  in  earnestness  and  activity.  But  few  of  these  men 
added  a  single  new  idea  to  the  world's  stock  of  beliefs,  whereas 
Paul,  while  at  least  equalling  them  in  their  own  special  line,  gave 
to  mankind  a  new  world  of  thought.  If  his  Epistles  could  perish, 
the  loss  to  literature  would  be  the  greatest  possible  with  only 
one  exception — that  of  the  Gospels  which  record  the  life,  the 
sayings  and  the  death  of  our  Lord.  They  have  quickened  the 
mind  of  the  Church  as  no  other  writings  have  done,  and  scattered 
in  the  soil  of  the  world  hundreds  of  seeds  whose  fruit  is  now 
the  general  possession  of  mankind.  Out  of  them  have  been 
brought  the  watchwords  of  progress  in  every  reformation  which 
the  church  has  experienced.  When  Luther  awoke  Europe  from 
the  slumber  of  centuries,  it  was  a  word  of  Paul  which  he  uttered 
with  his  mighty  voice ;  and  when,  one  hundred  years  ago,  our 
own  country  was  revived  from  almost  universal  spiritual  death, 
she  was  called  by  the  voices  of  men  who  had  re-discovered  the 
truth  for  themselves  in  the  pages  of  Paul. 

117,  Yet  in  penning  his  Epistles  Paul  may  himself  have  had 
little  idea  of  the  part  they  were  to  play  in  the  future.  They 
were  drawn  out  of  him  simply  by  the  exigencies  of  his  work. 
In  the  truest  sense  of  the  word  they  were  letters,  written  to 
meet  particular  occasions,  not  formal  writings,  carefully  designed 
and  executed  with  a  view  to  fame  or  to  futurity.  Letters  of  the 
right  kind  are,  before  everything  else,  products  of  the  heart ; 
and  it  was  the  eager  heart  of  Paul,  yearning  for  the  weal  of  his 
spiritual  children  or  alarmed  by  the  dangers  to  which  they  were 
exposed,  that  produced  all  his  writings.  They  were  part  of  his 
day's  work.  Just  as  he  flew  over  sea  and  land  to  revisit  his 
converts,  or  sent  Timothy  or  Titus  to  carry  them  his  counsels  and 
bring  news  of  how  they  fared,  so,  when  these  means  were  not 
available,  he  would  send  a  letter  with  the  same  design. 

118.  This  may  seem  to  detract  from  the  value  of  these  writings. 
We  may  be  inclined  to  wish  that,  instead  of  having  the  course  of 
his  thinking  determined  by  the  exigencies  of  so  many  special  occa- 
sions and  his  attention  distracted  by  so  many  minute  particulars, 


HIS   WRITINGS   AND    HIS   CHARACTER.  89 

he  had  been  able  to  concentrate  the  force  of  his  mind  on  one 
perfect  book  and  expound  his  views  on  the  high  subjects  which 
occupied  his  thoughts  in  a  systematic  form.  It  cannot  be  main- 
tained that  Paul's  Epistles  are  models  of  style.  They  were 
written  far  too  hurriedly  for  this  ;  and  the  last  thing  he  thought  of 
was  to  polish  his  periods.  Often,  indeed,  his  ideas,  by  the  mere 
virtue  of  their  fineness  and  beauty  run  into  forms  of  exquisite 
language,  or  there  is  in  them  such  a  sustained  throb  of  emotion 
that  they  shape  themselves  spontaneously  into  sentences  of 
noble  eloquence.  But  oftener  his  language  is  rugged  and  form- 
less ;  no  doubt  it  was  the  first  which  came  to  hand  for  expressing 
what  he  had  to  say.  He  begins  sentences  and  omits  to  finish 
them  ;  he  goes  off  into  digressions  and  forgets  to  pick  up  the  line 
of  thought  he  has  dropped  ;  he  throws  out  his  ideas  in  lumps 
instead  of  fusing  them  into  mutual  coherence.  Nowhere  perhaps 
will  there  be  found  so  exact  a  parallel  to  the  style  of  Paul  as  in 
the  Letters  and  Speeches  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  In  the  Protector's 
brain  there  lay  the  best  and  truest  thoughts  about  England  and 
her  complicated  affairs  which  existed  at  the  time  in  these  islands  ; 
but,  when  he  tried  to  express  them  in  speech  or  letter,  there 
issued  from  his  mind  the  most  extraordinary  mixture  of  exclama- 
tions, questions,  arguments  soon  losing  themselves  in  the  sands 
of  words,  unwieldy  parentheses,  and  morsels  of  beautiful  pathos 
or  subduing  eloquence.  Yet,  as  you  read  these  amazing  utter- 
ances, you  come  by  degrees  to  feel  that  you  are  getting  to  see  the 
very  heart  and  soul  of  the  Puritan  Era,  and  that  you  would  rather 
be  beside  this  man  than  any  other  representative  of  the  period. 
You  see  the  events  and  ideas  of  the  time  in  the  very  process  of 
birth.  Perhaps,  indeed,  a  certain  formlessness  is  a  natural 
accompaniment  of  the  very  highest  originality.  The  perfect 
expression  and  orderly  arrangement  of  ideas  is  a  later  process  ; 
but,  when  great  thoughts  are  for  the  first  time  coming  forth,  there 
is  a  kind  of  primordial  roughness  about  them,  as  if  the  earth  out 
of  which  they  are  arising  were  still  clinging  to  them  :  the  polishing 
of  the  gold  comes  late  and  has  to  be  preceded  by  the  heaving  of 


90  THE    LIFE   OF    ST.    PAUL. 

the  ore  out  of  the  bowels  of  nature.  Paul  in  his  writings  is 
hurling  forth  the  original  ore  of  truth.  We  owe  to  him  hundreds 
of  ideas  which  were  never  uttered  before.  After  the  original  man 
has  got  his  idea  out,  the  most  commonplace  scribe  may  be  able 
to  express  it  for  others  better  than  he,  though  he  could  never 
have  originated  it.  So  throughout  the  writings  of  Paul  there  are 
materials  which  others  may  combine  into  systems  of  theology  and 
ethics,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to  do  so.  But  his  Epistles 
permit  us  to  see  revelation  in  the  very  process  of  birth.  As  w^e 
read  them  closel}^,  we  seem  to  be  witnessing  the  creation  of  a 
world  of  truth,  as  the  angels  wondered  to  see  the  firmament 
evolving  itself  out  of  chaos  and  the  multitudinous  earth  spreading 
itself  forth  in  the  light.  Minute  as  are  the  details  he  has  often  to 
deal  with,  the  whole  of  his  vast  view  of  the  truth  is  recalled  in  his 
treatment  of  every  one  of  them,  as  the  whole  sky  is  mirrored  hi 
a  single  drop  of  dew.  What  could  be  a  more  impressive  proof 
of  the  fecundity  of  his  mind  than  the  fact  that,  amidst  the  in- 
numerable distractions  of  a  second  visit  to  his  Greek  converts, 
he  should  have  written  in  half  a  year  three  such  books  as 
Romans,  Galatians  and  Second  Corinthians  ? 

119.  It  was  God  by  His  Spirit  who  communicated  this  revela- 
tion of  truth  to  Paul.  Its  own  greatness  and  divineness  supply 
the  best  proof  that  it  could  have  had  no  other  origin.  But  none 
the  less  did  it  break  in  upon  Paul  with  the  joy  and  pain  of  original 
thought ;  it  came  to  him  through  his  experience  ;  it  drenched  and 
dyed  every  fibre  of  his  mind  and  heart ;  and  the  expression  which 
it  found  in  his  writings  was  in  accordance  Avith  his  peculiar  genius 
and  circumstances. 

120.  It  would  be  easy  to  suggest  compensations  in  the  form  of 
Paul's  writings  for  the  literary  qualities  they  lack.  But  one  of 
these  so  outweighs  all  others  that  it  is  sufficient  by  itself  to  justify 
in  this  case  the  ways  of  God.  In  no  other  literary  form  could  we, 
to  the  same  extent,  in  the  writings  have  got  the  man.  Letters 
are  the  most  personal  form  of  literature.    A  man  may  write  a 


HIS    WRITINGS    AND    HIS    CHARACTER.  9 1 

treatise  or  a  history  or  even  a  poem  and  hide  his  personahty 
behind  it.  But  letters  are  vahieless  unless  the  writer  shows 
himself.  Paul  is  constantly  visible  in  his  letters.  You  can  feel 
his  heart  throbbing  in  every  chapter  he  ever  wrote.  He  has 
painted  his  own  portrait — not  only  that  of  the  outward  man,  but 
of  his  innermost  feelings — as  no  one  else  could  have  painted  it. 
It  is  not  from  Luke,  admirable  as  is  the  picture  drawn  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  that  we  learn  what  the  true  Paul  was,  but 
from  Paul  himself.  The  truths  he  reveals  are  all  seen  embodied 
in  the  man.  As  there  are  some  preachers  who  are  greater  than 
their  sermons,  and  the  principal  gain  of  their  hearers,  in  listening 
to  them,  is  obtained  in  the  inspiring  glimpses  they  get  of  a  great 
and  sanctified  personality,  so  the  best  thing  in  the  writings  of 
Paul  is  Paul  himself,  or  rather  the  grace  of  God  in  him. 

121.  His  character  presented  a  wonderful  combination  of  the 
natural  and  the  spiritual.  From  nature  he  had  received  a  strongly 
marked  individuality ;  but  the  change  which  Christianity  pro- 
duces was  no  less  obvious  in  him.  In  no  saved  man's  character 
is  it  possible  to  separate  nicely  what  is  due  to  nature  and  what 
to  grace  ;  for  nature  and  grace  blend  sweetly  in  the  redeemed 
life.  In  Paul  the  union  of  the  two  was  singularly  complete  ;  yet 
it  was  always  clear  that  there  were  two  elements  in  him  of  diverse 
origin ;  and  this  is  indeed  the  key  to  a  successful  estimate  of  his 
character. 

122.  To  begin  with  what  was  most  simply  natural :  his  Physique 
was  an  important  condition  of  his  career.  As  want  of  ear  may 
make  a  musical  career  impossible  or  a  failure  of  eyesight  stop 
the  progress  of  a  painter,  so  the  missionary  life  is  impossible 
without  a  certain  degree  of  physical  stamina.  To  any  one  reading 
by  itself  the  catalogue  of  Paul's  sufferings,  and  observing  the 
elasticity  with  which  he  rallied  from  the  severest  of  them  and 
resumed  his  labours,  it  would  naturally  occur  that  he  must  have 
been  a  person  of  Herculean  mould.  On  the  contrary,  he  appears 
to  have  been  little  of  stature,  and  his  bodily  presence  was  weak. 


92  THE   LIFE   OF   ST.    PAUL. 

This  weakness  seems  to  have  been  sometimes  aggravated  by 
disfiguring  disease  ;  and  he  felt  keenly  the  disappointment  which 
he  knew  his  bodily  presence  would  excite  among  strangers  ;  for 
every  preacher  who  loves  his  work  would  like  to  preach  the  gospel 
with  all  the  graces  which  conciliate  the  favour  of  hearers  to  an 
orator.  God,  however,  used  his  very  weakness,  beyond  his  hopes, 
to  draw  out  the  tenderness  of  his  converts ;  and  so,  when  he  was 
weak,  then  he  was  strong,  and  he  was  able  to  glory  even  in  his 
infirmities.  There  is  a  theory,  which  has  obtained  extensive  cur- 
rency, that  the  disease  he  suffered  from  was  violent  ophthalmia, 
causing  disagreeable  redness  of  the  eyelids.  But  its  grounds  are 
very  slender.  He  seems,  on  the  contrary,  to  have  had  a  remark- 
able power  of  fascinating  and  cowing  an  enemy  with  the  keenness 
of  his  glance,  as  in  the  story  of  Elymas  the  sorcerer,  which  reminds 
us  of  the  tradition  about  Luther,  that  his  eyes  sometimes  so 
glowed  and  sparkled  that  bystanders  could  scarcely  look  on  them. 
There  is  no  foundation  whatever  for  an  idea  of  some  recent 
biographers  of  Paul  that  his  bodily  constitution  was  excessively 
fragile  and  chronically  afflicted  with  shattering  nervous  disease. 
No  one  could  have  gone  through  his  labours  or  suffered  the 
stoning,  the  scourgings  and  other  tortures  he  endured  without 
having  an  exceptionally  tough  and  sound  constitution.  It  is  true 
that  he  was  sometimes  worn  out  with  illness  and  torn  down  with 
the  acts  of  violence  to  which  he  was  exposed  ;  but  the  rapidity 
of  his  recovery  on  such  occasions  proves  what  a  large  fund  of 
bodily  force  he  had  to  draw  upon.  And  who  can  doubt  that,  when 
his  face  was  melted  with  tender  love  in  beseeching  men  to  be 
reconciled  to  God  or  lighted  up  with  enthusiasm  in  the  delivery 
of  his  message,  it  must  have  possessed  a  noble  beauty  far  above 
mere  regularity  of  feature  ? 

123.  There  was  a  good  deal  that  was  natural  in  another  element 
of  his  character  on  which  much  depended — his  spirit  of  Enterprise. 
There  are  many  men  who  like  to  grow  where  they  are  born ;  to 
have  to  change  into  new  circumstances  and  make  acquaintance 
with  new  people  is  intolerable  to  them.     But   there  are  others 


HIS   WRITINGS   AND    HIS    CHARACTER.  93 

Avho  have  a  kind  of  vagabondism  in  the  blood  ;  they  are  the 
persons  intended  by  nature  for  emigrants  and  pioneers  ;  and,  if 
they  take  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  they  make  the  best 
missionaries.  In  modern  times  no  missionary  has  had  this 
consecrated  spirit  of  adventure  in  the  same  degree  as  our 
own  countryman,  David  Livingstone.  When  he  first  went  to 
Africa,  he  found  the  missionaries  clustered  in  the  south  of  the 
continent,  just  within  the  fringe  of  heathenism  ;  they  had  their 
houses  and  gardens,  their  families,  their  small  congregations  of 
natives  ;  and  they  were  content.  But  he  moved  at  once  away 
beyond  the  rest  into  the  heart  of  heathenism,  and  dreams  of  more 
distant  regions  never  ceased  to  haunt  him,  till  at  length  he 
commenced  his  extraordinary  tramps  over  thousands  of  miles 
where  no  missionary  had  ever  been  before  ;  and,  when  death 
overtook  him,  he  was  still  pressing  forward.  Paul's  was  a  nature 
of  the  same  stamp,  full  of  courage  and  adventure.  The  unknown 
in  the  distance,  instead  of  dismaying,  drew  him  on.  He  could 
not  bear  to  build  on  other  men's  foundations,  but  was  constantly 
hastening  to  virgin  soil,  leaving  churches  behind  for  others  to 
build  up.  He  believed  that,  if  he  lit  the  lamp  of  the  gospel  here 
and  there  over  vast  areas,  the  light  would  spread  in  his  absence 
by  its  own  virtue.  He  liked  to  count  the  leagues  he  had  left 
behind  him,  but  his  watchword  was  ever  Forward.  In  his  dreams 
he  saw  men  beckoning  him  to  new  countries  ;  he  had  always  a 
long  unfulfilled  programme  in  his  mind ;  and,  as  death  approached, 
he  was  still  thinking  of  journeys  into  the  remotest  corners  of  the 
known  world. 

124.  Another  element  of  his  character  near  akin  to  the  one 
just  mentioned  was  his  Influence  over  men.  There  are  those  to 
whom  it  is  painful  to  have  to  accost  a  stranger  even  on  pressing 
business ;  and  most  men  are  only  quite  at  home  in  their  own  set 
— among  men  of  the  same  class  or  profession  as  themselves. 
But  the  life  he  had  chosen  brought  Paul  into  contact  with  men 
of  every  kind,  and  he  had  constantly  to  be  introducing  to  strangers 
the  business  with  which  he  was  charged.     He  might  be  addressing 


94  THE    LIFE   OF    ST.    PAUL. 

a  king  or  a  consul  the  one  hour  and  a  roomful  of  slaves  or 
common  soldiers  the  next.  One  day  he  had  to  speak  in  the 
synagogue  of  the  Jews,  another  among  a  crowd  of  Athenian 
philosophers,  another  to  the  inhabitants  of  some  provincial  town 
far  from  the  seats  of  culture.  But  he  could  adapt  himself  to 
every  man  and  every  audience.  To  the  Jews  he  spoke  as  a  rabbi 
out  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures ;  to  the  Greeks  he  quoted 
the  words  of  their  own  poets  ;  and  to  the  barbarians  he  talked  of 
the  God  who  giveth  rain  from  heaven  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling 
our  hearts  with  food  and  gladness.  When  a  weak  or  insincere 
man  attempts  to  be  all  things  to  all  men,  he  ends  by  being  nothing 
to  anybody.  But,  living  on  this  principle,  Paul  found  entrance 
for  the  gospel  everywhere,  and  at  the  same  time  won  for  himself 
the  esteem  and  love  of  those  to  Avhom  he  stooped.  If  he  was 
bitterly  hated  by  enemies,  there  was  never  a  man  more  intensely 
loved  by  his  friends.  They  received  him  as  an  angel  of  God,  or 
even  as  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  and  were  ready  to  pluck  out  their 
eyes  and  give  them  to  him.  One  church  was  jealous  of  another 
getting  too  miuch  of  him.  When  he  was  not  able  to  pay  a  visit 
at  the  time  he  had  promised,  they  were  furious,  as  if  he  had 
done  them  a  wrong.  When  he  was  parting  from  them,  they 
wept  sore  and  fell  on  his  neck  and  kissed  him.  Numbers  of 
young  men  were  continually  about  him,  ready  to  go  on  his 
messages.  It  was  the  largeness  of  his  manhood  which  was  the 
secret  of  this  fascination  ;  for  to  a  big  nature  all  resort,  feeling 
that  in  its  neighbourhood  it  is  well  with  them. 

125.  This  popularity  was  partly,  however,  due  to  another 
quality  which  shone  conspicuously  in  his  character — the  spirit  of 
Unselfishness.  This  is  the  rarest  quality  in  human  nature,  and  it 
is  the  most  powerful  of  all  in  its  influence  on  others,  where  it 
exists  in  purity  and  strength.  Most  men  are  so  absorbed  in  their 
own  interests  and  so  naturally  expect  others  to  be  the  same  that, 
if  they  see  any  one  who  appears  to  have  no  interests  of  his  own 
to  serve,  but  is  willing  to  do  as  much  for  the  sake  of  others  as 
the  generality  do  for  themselves,  they  are  at  first  incredulous, 


HTS    WRITINGS    AND    HIS    CHARACTER.  95 

suspecting  that  he  is  only  hiding  his  designs  beneath  the  cloak 
of  benevolence  ;  but,  if  he  stand  the  test  and  his  unselfishness 
prove  to  be  genuine,  there  is  no  limit  to  the  homage  they  are 
prepared  to  pay  him.  As  Paul  appeared  in  country  after  country 
and  city  after  city,  he  was  at  first  a  complete  enigma  to  those 
whom  he  approached.  They  formed  all  sorts  of  conjectures  as  to 
his  real  design.  Was  it  money  he  was  seeking,  or  power,  or 
something  darker  and  less  joure  ?  His  enemies  never  ceased  to 
throv/  out  such  insinuations.  But  those  who  got  near  him  and 
saw  the  man  as  he  was,  who  knew  that  he  refused  money  and 
worked  with  his  hands  day  and  night  to  keep  himself  above  the 
suspicion  of  mercenary  motives,  who  heard  him  pleading  with 
them  one  by  one  in  their  homes  and  exhorting  them  with  tears  to 
a  holy  life,  who  saw  the  sustained  personal  interest  he  took  in 
every  one  of  them — these  could  not  resist  the  proofs  of  his 
disinterestedness  or  deny  him  their  affection.  There  never  was  a 
man  more  unselfish  ;  he  had  literally  no  interest  of  his  own  to  live 
for.  Without  family  ties,  he  poured  all  the  affections  of  his  big 
nature,  which  might  have  been  given  to  wife  and  children,  into 
the  channels  of  his  work.  He  compares  his  tenderness  to  his 
converts  to  that  of  a  nursing-mother  to  her  children  ;  he  pleads 
with  them  to  remember  that  he  is  their  father  who  has  begotten 
them  in  the  gospel.  They  are  his  glory  and  crown,  his  hope  and 
joy  and  crown  of  rejoicing.  Eager  as  he  was  for  new  conquests, 
he  never  lost  his  hold  upon  those  he  had  won.  He  could  assure 
his  churches  that  he  prayed  and  gave  thanks  for  them  night  and 
day,  and  he  remembered  his  converts  by  name  at  the  throne  of 
grace.  How  could  human  nature  resist  disinterestedness  like 
this  ?  If  Paul  was  a  conqueror  of  the  world,  he  conquered  it  by 
the  power  of  love. 

126.  The  two  most  distinctively  Christian  features  of  his 
character  have  still  to  be  mentioned.  One  of  them  was  the  sense 
of  having  a  divine  Mission  to  preach  Chrjst,  which  he  was  bound 
to  fulfil.  Most  men  merely  drift  through  life,  and  the  work  they 
do  is  determined  by  a  hundred  indifferent  circumstances  ;  they 


96  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

might  as  well  be  doing  anything  else,  or  they  would  prefer,  if  they 
could  afford  it,  to  be  doing  nothing  at  all.  But,  from  the  time 
when  he  became  a  Christian,  Paul  knew  that  he  had  a  definite 
work  to  do  ;  and  the  call  he  had  received  to  it  never  ceased  to 
ring  like  a  tocsin  in  his  soul.  "  Woe  is  unto  me  if  I  preach  not 
the  gospel : "  this  was  the  impulse  which  drove  him  on.  He  felt 
that  he  had  a  world  of  new  truths  to  utter  and  that  the  salvation 
of  mankind  depended  on  their  utterance.  He  knew  himself 
called  to  make  Christ  known  to  as  many  of  his  fellow-creatures  as 
his  utmost  exertions  could  enable  him  to  reach.  It  was  this 
which  made  him  so  impetuous  in  his  movements,  so  blind  to 
danger,  so  contemptuous  of  suffering.  "  None  of  these  things 
move  me,  neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto  myself,  so  that  I 
might  finish  my  course  with  joy,  and  the  ministry  which  I  have 
received  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  testify  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of 
God."  He  lived  with  the  account  which  he  would  have  to  give 
at  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ  ever  in  his  eye,  and  his  heart  was 
revived  in  every  hour  of  discouragement  by  the  vision  of  the  crown 
of  life  which,  if  he  proved  faithful,  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge, 
would  place  upon  his  head. 

127.  The  other  peculiarly  Christian  quality  which  shaped  his 
career  was  personal  Devotion  to  Christ.  This  was  the  supreme 
characteristic  of  the  man  and  from  first  to  last  the  mainspring  of 
his  activities.  From  the  moment  of  his  first  meeting  with  Christ 
he  had  but  one  passion  ;  his  love  to  his  Saviour  burned  with 
more  and  more  brightness  to  the  end.  He  delighted  to  call 
himself  the  slave  of  Christ,  and  had  no  ambition  except  to  be  the 
propagator  of  His  ideas  and  the  continuer  of  His  influence.  He 
took  up  this  idea  of  being  Christ's  representative  with  startling 
boldness.  He  says  the  heart  of  Christ  is  beating  in  his  bosom 
towards  his  converts  ;  he  says  the  mind  of  Christ  is  thinking  in  his 
brain  ;  he  says  that  he  is  continuing  the  work  of  Christ  and 
filling  up  that  which  was  lacking  in  His  sufferings  ;  he  says  the 
wounds  of  Christ  are  reproduced  in  the  scars  upon  his  body  ;  he 
says  he  is  dying  that  others  may  live,  as  Christ  died  for  the  life 


HIS   WRITINGS    AND    HIS    CHARACTER.  97 

of  the  world.  But  it  was  in  reality  the  deepest  humility  which 
lay  beneath  these  bold  expressions.  He  had  the  sense  that  ') 
Christ  had  done  everything  for  him  ;  He  had  entered  into  him, 
casting  out  the  old  Paul  and  ending  the  old  life,  and  had  begotten 
a  new  man,  with  new  designs,  feelings  and  activities.  And  it  was 
his  deepest  longing  that  this  process  should  go  on  and  become 
complete — that  his  old  self  should  vanish  quite  away,  and  that  the 
new  self,  which  Christ  had  created  in  His  own  image  and  still 
sustained,  should  become  so  predominant  that,  when  the  thoughts 
of  his  mind  were  Christ's  thoughts,  the  words  on  his  lips  Christ's 
words,  the  deeds  he  did  Christ's  deeds,  and  the  character  he  wore 
Christ's  character,  he  might  be  able  to  say,  "  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but 
Christ  liveth  in  me." 


CHATTER   VTIT. 

PICTURE  OF  A   PAULINE  CIIURCIL 

Paragraplis  12S-144. 

128, 129.  The  Exterior  and  the  Interior  View  of  History. 
130-143.  A  Christian  Churcii  in  a  Heathen  Ciiy. 
131.  The  Place  of  Meeting. 
132?  133-  The  Persons  Present. 
134-137-  The  Services. 
1 38- 1 43.   Abuses  and  Irregularities. 
139, 140.   Of  Domestic  Life. 
141-T43.  Inside  the  Church, 
144.  Inferences. 


08 


CHAPTER   VIIT. 

PICTURE  OF  A   PAULINE   CHURCH. 

128,  A  HOLIDAY  visitor  to  a  foreign  city  walks  through  the 
streets,  guide-book  in  hand,  looking  at  monuments,  churches, 
public  buildings,  and  the  outsides  of  the  houses,  and  in  this  way 
is  supposed  to  be  made  acquainted  with  the  town  ;  but,  on  reflec- 
tion, he  will  find  that  he  has  scarcely  learned  anything  about  it, 
because  he  has  not  been  inside  the  houses.  He  does  not  know 
how  the  people  live — not  even  what  kind  of  furniture  they  have, 
or  what  kind  of  food  they  eat — not  to  speak  of  far  deeper  matters, 
such  as  how  they  love,  what  they  admire  and  pursue,  and  whether 
they  are  content  with  their  lot.  In  reading  history  one  is  often 
at  a  loss  in  the  same  way.  It  is  only  the  outside  of  life  that  is 
made  visible.  It  is  as  if  the  eye  were  carried  along  the  external 
surface  of  a  tree,  instead  of  seeing  a  cross  section  of  its  substance. 
The  pomp  and  glitter  of  the  court,  the  wars  waged  and  the 
victories  won,  the  changes  in  the  constitution  and  the  rise  and 
fall  of  administrations,  are  faithfully  recorded.  But  the  reader 
feels  that  he  would  learn  far  more  of  the  real  history  of  the  time 
if  he  could  see  for  one  hour  what  was  happening  beneath  the 
roofs  of  the  peasant,  the  shopkeeper,  the  clergyman,  and  the 
noble.  Even  in  Scripture  history  there  is  the  same  difficulty. 
In  the  narrative  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  we  receive  thrilling 
accounts  of  the  external  details  of  Paul's  history ;  we  are  carried 
rapidly  from  city  to  city,  and  informed  of  the  incidents  which 

accompanied   the  founding  of  the  various   churches.     But  we 

99 


100  THE   LIFE    OF   ST.    PAUL. 

cannot  help  wishing  sometimes  to  stop  and  learn  what  one  of  these 
churches  was  like  inside.  In  Paphos  or  Iconium,  in  Thessalonica 
or  Beroea  or  Corinth,  how  did  things  go  on  after  Paul  left  ?  What 
were  the  Christians  like,  and  what  was  the  aspect  of  their  worship  ? 

129.  Happily  it  is  possible  to  obtain  this  interior  view  of  things. 
As  Luke's  narrative  describes  the  outside  of  Paul's  career,  so 
Paul's  own  Epistles  permit  us  to  see  its  deeper  aspects.  They 
rewrite  the  history  on  a  different  plane.  This  is  especially  the 
case  with  those  Epistles  written  at  the  close  of  his  third  journey, 
which  cast  a  flood  of  light  back  upon  the  period  covered  by  all  his 
journeys.  In  addition  to  the  three  Epistles  already  mentioned  as 
having  been  written  at  this  time,  there  is  another  belonging  to  the 
same  part  of  his  life — the  First  to  the  Corinthians — which  may  be 
said  to  transport  us,  as  on  a  magician's  mantle,  back  over  two 
thousand  years,  and,  stationing  us  in  mid-air  above  a  great 
Greek  city,  in  which  there  was  a  Christian  church,  to  take  the 
roof  off  the  meeting-house  of  the  Christians  and  permit  us  to 
see  what  was  going  on  within. 

130.  It  is  a  strange  spectacle  we  witness  from  this  coigne  of 
vantage.  It  is  Sabbath  evening,  but  of  course  the  heathen  city 
knows  of  no  Sabbath.  The  day's  work  at  the  busy  seaport  is 
over,  and  the  streets  are  thronged  with  gay  revellers  intent  on 
a  night  of  pleasure,  for  it  is  the  wickedest  city  of  that  wicked 
ancient  world.  Hundreds  of  merchants  and  sailors  from  foreign 
parts  are  lounging  about.  The  gay  young  Roman,  who  has  come 
across  to  this  Paris  for  a  bout  of  dissipation,  drives  his  light  chariot 
through  the  streets.  If  it  is  near  the  time  of  the  annual  games, 
there  are  groups  of  boxers,  runners,  charioteers,  and  wrestlers, 
surrounded  by  their  admirers  and  discussing  their  chances  of 
winning  the  coveted  crowns.  In  the  warm  genial  climate  old 
and  young  are  out  of  doors  enjoying  the  evening  hour,  whilst 
the  sun,  going  down  over  the  Adriatic,  is  casting  its  golden  light 
upon  the  palaces  and  temples  of  the  wealthy  city. 

131.  Meantime  the  little   company  of    Christians   has  been 


PICTURE   OF   A   PAULINE   CHURCH.  loi 

gathering  from  all  directions  to  their  place  of  worship  ;  for  it  is 
the  hour  of  their  stated  assembly.  The  place  of  meeting  itself 
does  not  rise  very  clearly  before  our  view.  But  at  all  events  it  is 
no  gorgeous  temple  like  those  by  which  it  is  surrounded ;  it  has 
not  even  the  pretensions  of  the  neighbouring  synagogue.  It  may 
be  a  large  room  in  a  private  house  or  the  wareroom  of  some 
Christian  merchant  cleared  for  the  occasion. 

132.  Glance  round  the  benches  and  look  at  the  faces.  You 
at  once  discern  one  marked  distinction  among  them  :  some  have 
the  peculiar  facial  contour  of  the  Jew,  while  the  rest  are  Gentiles 
of  various  nationalities ;  and  the  latter  are  the  majority.  But 
look  closer  still  and  you  notice  another  distinction :  some  wear 
the  ring  which  denotes  that  they  are  free,  while  others  are  slaves ; 
and  the  latter  preponderate.  Here  and  there  among  the  Gentile 
members  there  is  one  with  the  regular  features  of  the  born  Greek, 
perhaps  shaded  with  the  pale  thoughtfulness  of  the  philosopher 
or  distinguished  with  the  self-confidence  of  wealth  ;  but  not  many 
great,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble  are  there  j  the  majority 
belong  to  what  in  this  pretentious  city  would  be  reckoned  the 
foolish,  the  weak,  the  base,  and  despised  things  of  this  world  ; 
they  are  slaves,  whose  ancestors  did  not  breathe  the  pellucid  air  of 
Greece,  but  roamed  in  savage  hordes  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube 
or  the  Don. 

133.  But  observe  one  thing  besides  on  all  the  faces  present — 
the  terrible  traces  of  their  past  life.  In  a  modern  Christian  con- 
gregation one  sees  in  the  faces  on  every  hand  that  peculiar  cast  of 
feature  which  Christian  nurture,  inherited  through  many  centuries, 
has  produced  ;  and  it  is  only  here  and  there  that  a  face  may 
be  seen  in  whose  lines  the  tale  is  written  of  debauchery  or  crime. 
But  in  this  Corinthian  congregation  these  awful  hieroglyphics  are 
everywhere.  "  Know  ye  not,"  Paul  writes  to  them,  "  that  the 
unrighteous  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God?  Be  not 
deceived:  neither  fornicators,  nor  idolaters,  nor  adulterers,  nor 
effeminate,  nor  abusers  of  themselves  with  mankind,  nor  thieves, 
nor  covetous,  nor  extortioners  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God. 


102  THE   LIFE   OF   ST.    PAUL. 

And  such  were  some  of  you."  Look  at  that  tall,  sallow-faced 
Greek ;  he  has  wallowed  in  the  mire  of  Circe's  swine-pens. 
Look  at  that  low-browed  Scythian  slave ;  he  has  been  a  pick- 
pocket and  a  jail-bird.  Look  at  that  thin-nosed,  sharp-eyed  Jew ; 
he  has  been  a  Shylock,  cutting  his  pound  of  flesh  from  the  gilded 
youth  of  Corinth.  Yet  there  has  been  a  great  change.  Another 
story  besides  the  tale  of  sin  is  written  on  these  countenances. 
"  But  ye  are  washed,  but  ye  are  sanctified,  but  ye  are  justified  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God." 
Listen,  they  are  singing  ;  it  is  the  fortieth  Psalm  :  "  He  took  me 
from  the  fearful  pit  and  from  the  miry  clay."  What  pathos  they 
throw  into  the  words,  what  joy  overspreads  their  faces  !  They 
know  themselves  to  be  monuments  of  free  grace  and  dying  love. 

134.  But  suppose  them  now  all  gathered;  how  does  their 
worship  proceed ,''  There  was  this  difference  between  their 
services  and  most  of  ours,  that  instead  of  one  man  conducting 
them — offering  the  prayers,  preaching,  and  giving  out  the  psalms — 
all  the  men  present  were  at  liberty  to  contribute  their  part.  There 
may  have  been  a  leader  or  chairman  ;  but  one  member  might 
read  a  portion  of  Scripture,  another  offer  prayer,  a  third  deliver 
an  address,  a  fourth  raise  a  hymn,  and  so  on.  Nor  does  there 
seem  to  have  been  any  fixed  order  in  which  the  different  parts  of 
the  service  occurred ;  any  member  might  rise  and  lead  away  the 
company  into  praise  or  prayer  or  meditation,  as  he  felt  prompted. 

135.  This  peculiarity  was  due  to  another  great  difference  be- 
tween them  and  us.  The  members  were  endowed  with  very 
extraordinary  gifts.  Some  of  them  had  the  power  of  working 
miracles,  such  as  the  healing  of  the  sick.  Others  possessed  a 
strange  gift  called  the  gift  of  tongues.  It  is  not  quite  clear  what 
it  was ;  but  it  seems  to  have  been  a  kind  of  tranced  utterance, 
in  which  the  speaker  poured  out  an  impassioned  rhapsody  by 
which  his  religious  feeling  received  both  expression  and  exalta- 
tion. Some  of  those  who  possessed  this  gift  were  not  able  to 
tell  others  the  meaning  of  what  they  were  saying,  while  others 


nCTURE   OF   A   PAULINE   CHURCH.  103 

had  this  additional  power ;  and  there  were  those  who,  though 
not  speaking  with  tongues  themselves,  were  able  to  interpret 
what  the  inspired  speakers  were  saying.  Then  again,  there  were 
members  who  possessed  the  gift  of  prophecy — a  very  valuable 
endowment.  It  was  not  the  power  of  predicting  future  events, 
but  a  gift  of  impassioned  eloquence,  whose  effects  were  some- 
times marvellous :  when  an  unbeliever  entered  the  assembly 
and  listened  to  the  prophets,  he  was  seized  with  uncontrollable 
emotion,  the  sins  of  his  past  life  rose  up  before  him,  and, 
falling  on  his  face,  he  confessed  that  God  was  among  them  of  a 
truth.  Other  members  exercised  gifts  more  like  those  we  are 
ourselves  acquainted  with,  such  as  the  gift  of  teaching  or  the  gift 
of  management.  But  in  all  cases  there  appears  to  have  been  a 
kind  of  immediate  inspiration,  so  that  what  they  did  was  not  the 
effect  of  calculation  or  preparation,  but  of  a  strong  present  impulse. 

136.  These  phenomena  are  so  remarkable  that,  if  narrated  in 
a  history,  they  would  put  a  severe  strain  on  Christian  faith.  But 
the  evidence  for  them  is  incontrovertible :  no  man,  writing  to 
people  about  their  own  condition,  invents  a  mythical  description 
of  their  circumstances  ;  and  besides,  Paul  was  writing  to  restrain 
rather  than  encourage  these  manifestations.  They  show  with 
what  mighty  force,  at  its  first  entrance  into  the  world,  Christianity 
took  possession  of  the  spirits  which  it  touched.  Each  believer 
received,  generally  at  his  baptism,  when  the  hands  of  the  baptizer 
were  laid  on  him,  his  special  gift,  which,  if  he  remained  faithful 
to  it,  he  continued  to  exercise.  It  was  the  Holy  Spirit,  poured 
forth  without  stint,  that  entered  into  the  spirits  of  men  and  dis- 
tributed these  gifts  among  them  severally  as  He  willed  j  and  each 
member  had  to  make  use  of  his  gift  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole 
body. 

137.  After  the  services  just  described  were  over,  the  members 
sat  down  together  to  a  love-feast,  which  was  wound  up  with  the 
breaking  of  bread  in  the  Lord's  Supper ;  and  then,  after  a 
fraternal  kiss,  they  parted  to  their  homes.  It  was  a  memorable 
scene,  radiant  with   brotherly  love   and   alive  with  outbreaking 


I04  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

spiritual  power.  As  the  Christians  wended  their  way  homewards 
through  the  careless  groups  of  the  heathen  city,  they  were  con- 
scious of  having  experienced  that  which  eye  had  not  seen  nor 
ear  heard. 

138.  But  truth  demands  that  the  dark  side  of  the  picture  be 
shown  as  well  as  the  bright  one.  There  were  abuses  and  irregu- 
larities in  the  church  which  it  is  exceedingly  painful  to  recall. 
They  were  due  to  two  things — the  antecedents  of  the  members 
and  the  mixture  in  the  church  of  Jewish  and  Gentile  elements. 
If  it  be  remembered  how  vast  was  the  change  which  most  of  the 
members  had  made  in  passing  from  the  worship  of  the  heathen 
temples  to  the  pure  and  simple  worship  of  Christianity,  it  will 
not  excite  surprise  that  their  old  life  still  clung  to  them  or  that 
they  did  not  clearly  distinguish  which  things  needed  to  be 
changed  and  which  might  continue  as  they  had  been. 

139.  Yet  it  startles  us  to  learn  that  some  of  them  were  living 
in  gross  sensuality,  and  that  the  more  philosophical  defended 
this  on  principle.  One  member,  apparently  a  person  of  wealth 
and  position,  was  openly  living  in  a  connection  which  would 
have  been  a  scandal  even  among  heathens,  and,  though  Paul 
had  indignantly  written  to  have  him  excommunicated,  the  church 
had  failed  to  obey,  affecting  to  misunderstand  the  order.  Others 
had  been  allured  back  to  take  part  in  the  feasts  in  the  idol 
temples,  notwithstanding  their  accompaniments  of  drunkenness 
and  revelry.  They  excused  themselves  with  the  plea  that  they 
no  longer  ate  the  feast  in  honour  of  the  gods,  but  only  as  an 
ordinary  meal,  and  argued  that  they  would  have  to  go  out  of  the 
world  if  they  were  not  sometimes  to  associate  with  sinners. 

140.  It  is  evident  that  these  abuses  belonged  to  the  Gentile 
section  of  the  church.  In  the  Jewish  section,  on  the  other 
hand,  there  were  strange  doubts  and  scruples  about  the  same 
subjects.  Some,  for  instance,  revolted  with  the  loose  behaviour 
of  their  Gentile  brethren,  had  gone  to  the  opposite  extreme, 
denouncing  marriage   altogether  and  raising   anxious   questions 


PICTURE   OF   A   PAULINE   CHURCH.  I05 

as  to  whether  widows  might  marry  again,  whether  a  Christian 
married  to  a  heathen  wife  ought  to  put  her  away,  and  other 
points  of  the  same  nature.  While  some  of  the  Gentile  converts 
were  participating  in  the  idol  feasts,  some  of  the  Jewish  ones 
had  scruples  about  buying  in  the  market  the  meat  which  had 
been  offered  in  sacrifice  to  idols,  and  looked  with  censure  on 
their  brethren  who  allowed  themselves  this  freedom. 

141.  These  difficulties  belonged  to  the  domestic  life  of  the 
Christians ;  but  in  their  public  meetings  also  there  were  grave 
irregularities.  The  very  gifts  of  the  Spirit  were  perverted  into 
instruments  of  sin  ;  for  those  possessed  of  the  more  showy  gifts, 
such  as  miracles  and  tongues,  were  too  fond  of  displaying  them, 
and  turned  them  into  grounds  of  boasting.  This  led  to  confusion 
and  even  uproar ;  for  sometimes  two  or  three  of  those  who  spoke 
with  tongues  would  be  pouring  forth  their  unintelligible  utterances 
at  once,  so  that,  as  Paul  said,  if  any  stranger  had  entered  their 
meeting,  he  would  have  concluded  that  they  were  all  mad.  The 
prophets  spoke  at  wearisome  length,  and  too  many  pressed 
forward  to  take  part  in  the  services.  Paul  had  sternly  to  rebuke 
these  extravagances,  insisting  on  the  principle  that  the  spirits 
of  the  prophets  were  subject  to  the  prophets,  and  that  therefore 
the  spiritual  impulse  was  no  apology  for  disorder. 

142.  But  there  were  still  worse  things  inside  the  church.  Even 
the  sacredness  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  profaned.  It  seems 
that  the  members  were  in  the  habit  of  taking  with  them  to  church 
the  bread  and  wine  which  were  needed  for  this  sacrament.  But 
the  wealthy  brought  abundant  and  choice  supplies,  and,  instead 
of  waiting  for  their  poorer  brethren  and  sharing  their  provisions 
with  them,  began  to  eat  and  drink  so  gluttonously  that  the  table 
of  the  Lord  actually  resounded  with  drunkenness  and  riot. 

143.  One  more  dark  touch  must  be  added  to  this  sad  picture. 
In  spite  of  the  brotherly  kiss  with  which,  their  meetings  closed, 
they  had  fallen  into  mutual  rivalry  and  contention.  No  doubt 
this  was  due  to  the  heterogeneous  elements  brought  together  in 
the  church.     But  it  had  been  allowed  to  go  to  great  lengths. 


I06  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

Brother  went  to  law  with  brother  in  the  heathen  courts  instead 
of  seeking  the  arbitration  of  a  Christian  friend.  The  body  of  the 
members  was  split  up  into  four  theological  factions.  Some 
called  themselves  after  Paul  himself.  These  treated  the  scruples 
of  the  weaker  brethren  about  meats  and  other  things  with  scorn. 
Others  took  the  name  of  ApoUonians  from  Apollos,  an  eloquent 
teacher  from  Alexandria,  who  visited  Corinth  between  Paul's 
second  and  third  journeys.  These  were  the  philosophical  party  ; 
they  denied  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  because  it  was  absurd 
to  suppose  that  the  scattered  atoms  of  the  dead  body  could  ever 
be  reunited  again.  The  third  party  took  the  name  of  Peter,  or 
Cephas,  as  in  their  Hebrew  purism  they  preferred  to  call  him. 
These  were  narrow-minded  Jews,  who  objected  to  the  liberality  of 
Paul's  views.  The  fourth  party  affected  to  be  above  all  parties 
and  called  themselves  simply  Christians.  Like  many  despisers  of 
the  sects  since  then,  who  have  used  the  name  of  Christian  in 
the  same  way,  these  were  the  most  bitterly  sectarian  of  all  and 
rejected  Paul's  authority  with  malicious  scorn. 

144.  Such  is  the  chequered  picture  of  one  of  Paul's  churches 
given  in  one  of  his  own  Epistles  ;  and  it  shows  several  things 
with  much  impressiveness.  It  shows,  for  instance,  how  excep- 
tional, even  in  that  age,  his  own  mind  and  character  were, 
and  what  a  blessing  his  gifts  and  graces  of  good  sense,  of 
large  sympathy  blended  with  conscientious  firmness,  of  per- 
sonal purity  and  honour,  were  to  the  infant  church.  It  shows 
that  it  is  not  behind  but  in  front  that  we  have  to  look  for 
the  golden  age  of  Christianity.  It  shows  how  perilous  it  is  to 
assume  that  the  prevalence  of  any  ecclesiastical  usage  at  that 
time  must  constitute  a  rule  for  all  times.  Everything  of  this 
kind  was  evidently  at  the  experimental  stage.  Indeed  in  the  latest 
writings  of  Paul  we  find  the  picture  of  a  very  different  state  of 
things,  in  which  the  worship  and  discipline  of  the  church  were 
far  more  fixed  and  orderly.  It  is  not  for  a  pattern  of  the 
machinery  of  a  church  we  ought  to  go  back  to  this  early  time, 


PICTURE    OF   A    PAULINE   CHURCH.  I07 

but  for  a  spectacle  of  fresh  and  transforming  spiritual  power. 
This  is  what  will  always  attract  to  the  Apostolic  Age  the  longing 
eyes  of  Christians  ;  the  power  of  the  Spirit  was  energizing  in 
every  member,  the  tides  of  fresh  emotion  swelled  in  every 
breast,  and  all  felt  that  the  day  spring  of  a  new  revelation  had 
visited  them ;  life,  love,  light  were  diffusing  themselves  every- 
where. Even  the  vices  of  the  young  church  were  the  irregu- 
larities of  abundant  life,  for  the  lack  of  which  the  lifeless  order 
of  many  a  subsequent  generation  has  been  a  poor  compensation. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

HIS  GREAT  CONTROVERSY. 

Paragraphs  145-162. 

146-148.   The  Question  at  Issue. 
149-153.   The  Settlement  of  it. 

149,150.  By  Peter;  151.    By   Paul;    152,    153.   By  the 
Council  of  Jerusalem. 
154-156.   Attempt  to  unsettle  it. 
157, 158.   Paul  crushes  the  Judaizers. 

159-162,   A  subordinate  Branch  of  the  Question  :  the  Relation 
of  Christian  Jews  to  the  Law. 


loe 


CHAPTER    IX. 

HIS   GREAT  CONTROVERSY.    ^ 

145.  The  version  of  the  apostle's  life  supplied  in  his  own 
letters  is  largely  occupied  with  a  controversy  which  cost  him 
much  pain  and  took  up  much  of  his  time  for  many  years,  but  of 
which  Luke  says  little.  At  the  date  when  Luke  wrote  it  was  a 
dead  controversy,  and  it  belonged  to  a  different  plane  from  that 
along  which  his  story  moves.  But  at  the  time  when  it  was  raging 
it  tried  Paul  far  more  than  tiresome  journeys  or  angry  seas.  It 
was  at  its  hottest  about  the  close  of  his  third  journey,  and  the 
Epistles  already  mentioned  as  having  been  written  then  may  be 
said  to  have  been  evoked  by  it.  The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians 
especially  was  a  thunderbolt  hurled  against  his  opponents  in  this 
controversy  ;  and  its  burning  sentences  show  how  profoundly  he 
was  moved  by  the  subject. 

146.  The  question  at  issue  was  whether  the  Gentiles  required 
to  become  Jews  before  they  could  be  true  Christians  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  whether  they  had  to  be  circumcised  in  order  to  be 
saved. 

147.  It  had  pleased  God  in  the  primitive  times  to  choose  the 
Jewish  race  from  amongst  the  nations  and  make  it  the  repository 
of  salvation  ;  and,  till  the  advent  of  Ciirist,  those  from  other 
nations  who  wished  to  become  partakers  of  the  true  religion  had 
to  seek  entrance  as  proselytes  within  the  sacred  enclosure  of 
Israel.     Having  thus  destined  this  race  to  be  the  guardians  of 

109 


no  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

revelation,  God  had  to  separate  them  very  completely  from  all 
other  nations  and  from  all  other  aims  which  might  have  distracted 
their  attention  from  the  sacred  trust  which  had  been  committed 
to  them.  For  this  purpose  he  regulated  their  whole  life  with 
rules  and  arrangements  intended  to  make  them  a  peculiar 
people,  different  from  all  other  races  of  the  earth.  Every  detail 
of  their  life — their  forms  of  worship,  their  social  customs,  their 
dress,  their  food  —  was  pres^cribed  for  them ;  and  all  these 
prescriptions  were  embodied  in  that  vast  legal  instrument  which 
they  called  the  Law.  This  rigorous  prescription  of  so  many 
things  which  are  naturally  left  to  free  choice  was  a  heavy  yoke 
upon  the  chosen  people  ;  it  was  a  severe  discipline  to  the 
conscience,  and  such  it  was  felt  to  be  by  the  more  earnest 
spirits  of  the  nation.  But  others  saw  ift  it  a  badge  of  pride  ;  it 
made  them  feel  that  they  were  the  select  of  the  earth  and 
superior  to  all  other  people  ;  and,  instead  of  groaning  under  the 
yoke,  as  they  would  have  done  if  their  consciences  had  been 
ver}^  tender,  they  multiplied  the  distinctions  of  the  Jew,  swelling 
the  volume  of  the  prescriptions  of  the  law  with  stereotyped 
customs  of  their  own.  To  be  a  Jew  appeared  to  them  the  mark 
of  belonging  to  the  aristocracy  of  the  nations  ;  to  be  admitted  to 
the  privileges  of  this  position  was  in  their  eyes  the  greatest 
honour  which  could  be  conferred  on  one  who  did  not  belong  to 
the  commonwealth  of  Israel.  Their  thoughts  were  all  pent 
within  the  circle  of  this  national  conceit.  Even  their  hopes 
about  the  Messiah  were  coloured  with  these  prejudices  ;  they 
expected  Him  to  be  the  hero  of  their  own  nation,  and  the 
extension  of  His  kingdom  they  conceived  as  a  crowding  of  the 
other  nations  within  the  circle  of  their  own  through  the  gateway 
of  circumcision.  They  expected  that  all  the  converts  of  the 
Messiah  would  undergo  this  national  rite  and  adopt  the  life 
prescribed  in  the  Jewish  law  and  tradition  ;  in  short,  their 
conception  of  Messiah's  reign  was  a  world  of  Jews. 

148.  Such   undoubtedly  was   the  tenor   of  popular   sentiment 
in   Palestine  when  Christ  came ;   and  multitudes  of  those  who 


HIS    GREAT    CONTROVERSV.  Ill 

accepted  Jesus  as  the  Messiah  and  entered  the  Christian  church 
had  this  set  of  conceptions  as  their  intellectual  horizon.  They 
had  become  Christians,  but  they  had  not  ceased  to  be  Jews  ; 
they  still  attended  the  temple  worship  ;  they  prayed  at  the  stated 
hours,  they  fasted  on  the  stated  days,  they  dressed  in  the  style  of 
the  Jewish  ritual;  they  would  have  thought  themselves  defiled 
by  eating  with  uncircumcised  Gentiles  ;  and  they  had  no  thought 
but  that,  if  Gentiles  became  Christians,  they  would  be  circum- 
cised and  adopt  the  style  and  customs  of  the  religious  nation. 

149.  The  question  was  settled  by  the  direct  intervention  of 
God  in  the  case  of  Cornelius,  the  centurion  of  Caesarea.  When 
the  messengers  of  Cornelius  were  on  their  way  to  the  Apostle 
Peter  at  Joppa,  God  showed  that  leader  among  the  apostles,  by 
the  vision  of  the  sheet  full  of  clean  and  unclean  beasts,  that  the 
Christian  church  was  to  contain  circumcised  and  uncircumcisc  1 
alike.  In  obedience  to  this  heavenly  sign  Peter  accompanied 
the  centurion's  messengers  to  Caesarea,  and  saw  such  evidences 
that  the  household  of  Cornelius  had  already,  without  circumcision, 
received  the  distinctively  Christian  endowments  of  faith  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  that  he  could  not  hesitate  to  baptize  them  as  being 
Christians  already.  When  he  returned  to  Jerusalem,  his  pro- 
ceedings created  wonder  and  indignation  among  the  Christians 
of  the  strictly  Jewish  persuasion.  But  he  defended  himself  by 
recounting  the  vision  of  the  sheet  and  by  an  appeal  to  the  clear 
fact  that  these  uncircumcised  Gentiles  were  proved  by  their 
possession  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  have  been  already 
Christians. 

150.  This  incident  ought  to  have  settled  the  question  once  for 
ill ;  but  the  pride  of  race  and  the  prejudices  of  a  lifetime  are  not 

asily  subdued.  Although  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem  reconciled 
lemselves  to  Peter's  conduct  in  this  single  case,  they  neglected 
1  extract  from  it  the  universal  principle  which  it  implied ;  and 
Ven  Peter  himself,  as  we  shall  subsequently  see,  did  not  fully 
imprehend  what  was  involved  in  his  own  conduct. 


112  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

151.  Meanwhile,  however,  the  question  had  been  settled  in  a 
far  stronger  and  more  logical  mind  than  Peter's.  Paul  at  this 
time  began  his  apostolic  work  at  Antioch,  and  soon  afterwards 
went  forth  with  Barnabas  upon  his  first  great  missionary  expedi- 
tion into  the  Gentile  world  ;  and,  wherever  they  went,  he  admitted 
heathens  into  the  Christian  church  without  circumcision.  Paul 
in  thus  acting  did  not  copy  Peter.  He  had  received  his  gospel 
directly  from  heaven.  In  the  solitudes  of  Arabia,  in  the  years 
immediately  after  his  conversion,  he  had  thought  this  subject  out 
and  come  to  far  more  radical  conclusions  about  it  than  had  yet 
entered  the  minds  of  any  of  the  rest  of  the  apostles.  To  him  far 
more  than  to  any  of  them  the  Law  had  been  a  yoke  of  bondage  ; 
he  saw  that  it  was  only  a  stern  preparation  for  Christianity,  not 
a  part  of  it ;  indeed,  there  was  in  his  mind  a  deep  gulf  of  contrast 
between  the  misery  and  curse  of  the  one  state  and  the  joy  and 
freedom  of  the  other.  To  his  mind  to  impose  the  yoke  of  the 
law  on  the  Gentiles  would  have  been  to  destroy  the  very  genius 
of  Christianity ;  it  would  have  been  the  imposition  of  conditions 
of  salvation  totally  different  from  that  which  he  knew  to  be  the 
one  condition  of  it  in  the  gospel.  These  were  the  deep  reasons 
which  settled  this  question  in  this  great  mind.  Besides,  as  a 
man  who  knew  the  world  and  whose  heart  was  set  on  winning 
the  Gentile  nations  to  Christ,  he  felt  far  more  strongly  than  did 
the  Jews  of  Jerusalem,  with  their  provincial  horizon,  how  fatal 
such  conditions  as  they  meant  to  impose  would  be  to  the  success 
of  Christianity  outside  Judaea.  The  proud  Romans,  the  high- 
minded  Greeks,  would  never  have  consented  to  be  circumcised 
and  to  cramp  their  life  within  the  narrow  limits  of  Jewish  tradi- 
tion ;  a  religion  hampered  with  such  weights  could  never  have 
become  the  universal  religion.  ^ 

152.  But,  when  Paul  and  Barnabas  came  back  from  their  first 
missionary  tour  to  Antioch,  they  found  that  a  still  more  decisi/e 
settlement  of  this  question  was  required ;  for  Christians  of  the 
strictly  Jewish  sort  were  coming  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Antioch 
and  telling  the  Gentile  converts  that,  unless  they  were  circuni- 


HIS    GREAT    CONTROVERSY.  II3 

cised,  they  could  not  be  saved.  In  this  way  they  were  filling 
them  with  alarm,  lest  they  might  be  omitting  something  on 
which  the  welfare  of  their  souls  depended,  and  they  were  con- 
fusing their  minds  as  to  the  simplicity  of  the  gospel.  To  quiet 
these  disturbed  consciences  it  was  resolved  by  the  church  at 
Antioch  to  appeal  to  the  leading  apostles  at  Jerusalem,  and  Paul 
and  Barnabas  were  sent  thither  to  procure  the  decision.  This 
was  the  origin  of  what  is  called  the  Council  of  Jerusalem,  at 
which  this  question  was  authoritatively  settled.  The  decision  of 
the  apostles  and  elders  was  in  harmony  with  Paul's  practice :  the 
Gentiles  were  not  to  be  required  to  be  circumcised  ;  only  they  were 
enjoined  to  abstain  from  meat  offered  in  sacrifice  to  idols,  from 
fornication,  and  from  blood.  To  these  conditions  Paul  consented. 
He  did  not  indeed  see  any  harm  in  eating  meat  which  had  been 
used  in  idolatrous  sacrifices,  when  it  was  exposed  for  sale  in  the 
market ;  but  the  feasts  upon  such  meat  in  the  idol  temples, 
which  were  often  followed  by  wild  outbreaks  of  sensuality, 
alluded  to  in  the  prohibition  of  fornication,  were  temptations 
against  which  the  converts  from  heathenism  required  to  be 
warned.  The  prohibition  of  blood — that  is,  of  eating  meat  killed 
without  the  blood  being  drained  off — was  a  concession  to  extreme 
Jewish  prejudice,  which,  as  it  involved  no  principle,  he  did  not 
think  it  necessary  to  oppose. 

153.  So  the  agitating  question  appeared  to  be  settled  by  an 
authority  so  august  that  none  could  question  it.  If  Peter,  John, 
and  James,  the  pillars  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  as  well  as 
Paul  and  Barnabas,  the  heads  of  the  Gentile  mission,  arrived  at 
a  unanimous  decision,  all  consciences  might  be  satisfied  and  all 
opposing  mouths  stopped. 

154.  It  fills  us  with  amazement  to  discover  that  even  this 
settlement  was  not  final.  It  would  appear  that,  even  at  the  time 
when  it  was  come  to,  it  was  fiercely  opposed  by  some  who  were 
present  at  the  meeting  where  it  was  discussed  ;  and,  although 
the  authority  of  the  apostles  determined  the  official  note  which 

H 


114  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

was  sent  to  the  distant  churches,  the  Christian  community  at 
Jerusalem  was  agitated  with  storms  of  angry  opposition  to  it. 
Nor  did  tiie  opposition  soon  die  down.  On  the  contrary,  it 
waxed  stronger  and  stronger.  It  was  fed  from  abundant  sources. 
Fierce  national  pride  and  prejudice  sustained  it ;  probably  it  was 
nourished  by  self-interest,  because  the  Jewish  Christians  would 
live  on  easier  terms  with  the  non-Christian  Jews  the  less  the 
difference  between  them  was  understood  to  be  ;  religious  convic- 
tion, rapidly  warming  into  fanaticism,  strengthened  it ;  and  very 
soon  it  was  reinforced  by  all  the  rancour  of  hatred  and  the  zeal  of 
propagandism.  For  to  such  a  height  did  this  opposition  rise 
that  the  party  which  was  inflamed  with  it  at  length  resolved  to 
send  out  propagandists  to  visit  the  Gentile  churches  one  by  on^, 
and,  in  contradiction  to  the  official  apostolic  rescript,  warn  them 
that  they  were  imperilling  their  souls  by  omitting  circumcision, 
and  could  not  enjoy  the  privileges  of  true  Christianity  unless  they 
kept  the  Jewish  law. 

155.  For  years  and  years  these  emissaries  of  a  narrow-minded 
fanaticism,  which  believed  itself  to  be  the  only  genuine  Chris- 
tianity, diffused  themselves  over  all  the  churches  founded  by  Paul 
throughout  the  Gentile  world.  Their  work  was  not  to  found 
churches  of  their  own  ;  they  had  none  of  the  original  pioneer 
ability  of  their  great  rival.  Their  business  was  to  steal  into  the 
Christian  communities  he  had  founded  and  win  them  to  their 
own  narrow  views.  They  haunted  Paul's  footsteps  wherever  he 
went,  and  for  many  years  were  a  cause  to  him  of  unspeakable 
pain.  They  whispered  to  his  converts  that  his  version  of  the 
gospel  was  not  the  true  one,  and  that  his  authority  was  not  to  be 
trusted.  Was  he  one  of  the  twelve  apostles  ?  Had  he  kept 
company  with  Christ  ?  They  represented  themselves  as  having 
brought  the  true  form  of  Christianity  from  Jerusalem,  the  sacred 
headquarters  ;  and  they  did  not  scruple  to  profess  that  they  had 
been  sent  from  the  apostles  there.  They  distorted  the  very 
noblest  parts  of  Paul's  conduct  to  their  purpose.  For  instance, 
his  refusal  to  accept  money  for  his  services  they  imputed  to  a 


HIS    GREAT    CONTROVERSY. 


IIS 


sense  of  his  own  lack  of  authority  :  the  real  apostles  always 
received  pay.  In  the  same  way  they  misconstrued  his  abstinence 
from  marriage.  They  were  men  not  without  ability  for  the  work 
they  had  undertaken  :  they  "had  smooth,  insinuating  tongues, 
they  could  assume  an  air  of  dignity,  and  they  did  not  stick  at 
trifles. 

156.  Unfortunately  they  were  by  no  means  without  success. 
They  alarmed  the  consciences  of  Paul's  converts  and  poisoned 
their  minds  against  him.  The  Galatian  church  especially  fell  a 
prey  to  them  ;  and  the  Corinthian  church  allowed  its  mind  to  be. 
turned  against  its  founder.  But,  indeed,  the  defection  was  more 
or  less  pronounced  everywhere.  It  seemed  as  if  the  whole 
structure  which  Paul  had  reared  with  years  of  labour  was  to  be 
thrown  to  the  ground.  For  this  was  what  he  believed  to  be 
happening.  Though  these  men  called  themselves  Christians, 
Paul  utterly  denied  their  Christianity.  Their  gospel  was  not 
another ;  if  his  converts  beheved  it,  he  assured  them  they  were 
fallen  from  grace  ;  and  in  the  most  solemn  terms  he  pronounced 
a  curse  on  those  who  were  thus  destroying  the  temple  of  God 
which  he  had  built. 

157.  He  was  not,  however,  the  man  to  allow  such  seduction 
to  go  on  among  his  converts  without  putting  forth  the  most 
strenuous  efforts  to  counteract  it.  He  hurried,  when  he  could, 
to  see  the  churches  which  were  being  tampered  with ;  he  sent 
messengers  to  bring  them  back  to  their  allegiance ;  above  all, 
he  wrote  letters  to  those  in  peril — letters  in  which  the  extra- 
ordinary powers  of  his  mind  were  exerted  to  the  utmost. 
He  argued  the  subject  out  with  all  the  resources  of  logic  and 
Scripture ;  he  exposed  the  seducers  with  a  keenness  which  cut 
like  steel  and  overwhelmed  them  with  sallies  of  sarcastic  wit ;  he 
fluiig  himself  at  his  converts'  feet  and  with  all  the  passion  and 
tenderness  of  his  mighty  heart  implored  them  to  be  true  to  Christ 
and  to  himself.  We  possess  the  records  of  these  anxieties  in  our 
New  Testament ;  and  it  fills  us  with  gratitude  to  God  and  a 
strange  tenderness  to   Paul  himself  to  think  that  out  of  his 


Il6  THE   LIFE   OF   ST.    PAUL. 

heart-breaking  trial  there  has  come  such   a  precious  heritage 
to  us. 

158.  It  is  comforting  to  know  that  he  was  successful.  Perse- 
vering as  his  enemies  were,  he  was  more  than  a  match  for  them. 
Hatred  is  strong,  but  stronger  still  is  love.  In  his  later  writings 
the  traces  of  this  opposition  are  slender  or  entirely  absent.  It 
had  given  way  before  the  crushing  force  of  his  polemic,  and  its 
traces  had  been  swept  off  the  soil  of  the  church.  Had  the  event 
been  otherwise,  Christianity  would  have  been  a  river  lost  in  the 
sands  of  prejudice  near  its  very  source  ;  it  would  have  been  at  the 
present  day  a  forgotten  Jewish  sect  instead  of  the  religion  of  the 
world. 

159.  Up  to  this  point  the  course  of  this  ancient  controversy 
can  be  clearly  traced.  But  there  is  another  branch  of  it  about 
whose  true  course  it  is  far  from  easy  to  arrive  at  certainty.  What 
was  the  relation  of  the  Christian  Jews  to  the  law,  according  to 
the  teaching  and  preaching  of  Paul  ?  Was  it  their  duty  to 
abandon  the  practices  they  had  been  wont  to  regulate  their  lives 
by,  and  to  abstain  from  circumcising  their  children  or  teaching 
them  to  keep  the  law  ?  This  would  appear  to  be  implied  in  Paul's 
principles.  If  Gentiles  could  enter  the  kingdom  without  keeping 
the  law,  it  could  not  be  necessary  for  Jews  to  keep  it.  If  the 
law  was  a  severe  discipline  intended  to  drive  men  to  Christ,  its 
obligations  fell  away  when  this  purpose  was  fulfilled.  The 
bondage  of  tutelage  ceased  as  soon  as  the  son  entered  on  the 
actual  possession  of  his  inheritance. 

160.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  other  apostles  and  the 
mass  of  the  Christians  of  Jerusalem  did  not  for  many  a  day 
realise  this.  The  apostles  had  agreed  not  to  demand  from  the 
Gentile  Christians  circumcision  and  the  keeping  of  the  law.  But 
they  kept  it  themselves  and  expected  all  Jews  to  keep  it.  This 
involved  a  contradiction  of  ideas  and  it  led  to  unhappy  practical 
consequences.  If  it  had  continued  or  been  yielded  to  by  Paul,  it 
would  have  split  up  the  church  into  two  sections,  one  of  which 


HIS    GREAT    CONTROVERSY.  II7 

would  have  looked  down  upon  the  other.  For  it  was  part  of  the 
strict  observance  of  the  law  to  refuse  to  eat  with  the  uncircum- 
cised  ;  and  the  Jews  would  have  refused  to  sit  at  the  same  table 
with  those  whom  they  acknowledged  to  be  their  Christian 
brethren.  This  unseemly  contradiction  actually  came  to  pass  in 
a  prominent  instance.  The  Apostle  Peter,  chancing  on  one 
occasion  to  be  in  the  heathen  city  of  Antioch,  at  first  mingled 
freely  in  social  intercourse  with  the  Gentile  Christians.  But 
some  of  the  stricter  sort,  coming  thither  from  Jerusalem,  so 
cowed  him  that  he  withdrew  from  the  Gentile  table  and  held 
aloof  from  his  fellow-Christians.  Even  Barnabas  was  carried 
away  by  the  same  tyranny  of  bigotry.  Paul  alone  was  true  to  the 
principles  of  gospel  freedom.  He  withstood  Peter  to  the  face 
and  exposed  the  inconsistency  of  his  conduct. 

161.  Paul  never,  indeed,  carried  on  a  polemic  against  circum- 
cision and  the  keeping  of  the  law  among  born  Jews.     This  was 
reported  of  him  by  his  enemies  ;  but  it  was  a  false  report.    When 
he  arrived  in  Jerusalem  at  the   close  of  his   third  missionary 
journey,  the  Apostle  James  and  the  elders  informed  him  of  the 
damage  which  this  representation  was  doing  to  his  good  name 
and  advised  him  publicly  to  disprove  it.     The  words  in  which 
they  made  this  appeal  to  him  are  very  remarkable.     "  Thou  seest, 
brother,"  they  said,  "  how  many  thousands  of  Jews  there  are  who 
believe ;    and  they  are  all   zealous   of  the  law ;    and   they  are 
informed  of  thee  that  thou  teachest  all  the  Jews  who  are  among 
the  Gentiles  to  forsake  Moses,  saying  that  they  ought  not  to 
circumcise   their   children,   neither   to  walk  after   the   customs. 
Do  therefore  this  that  we  say  to  thee  :  We  have  four  men  who 
have  a  vow  on  them.     Take  them  and  purify  thyself  with  them, 
and  be  at  charges  with  them,  that  they  may  shave  their  heads  ; 
and  all  may  know  that  those  things  whereof  they  were  informed 
concerning  thee  are  nothing,  but  thou  thyself  also  walkest  orderly 
and  keepest  the  law."     Paul  complied  with  this  appeal  and  went 
through    the    rite   which  James   recommended.      This    clearly 
proves  that  he  never  regarded  it  as  part  of  his  work  to  dissuade 


Il8  THE   LIFE   OF    ST.    PAUL. 

born  Jews  from  living  as  Jews.  It  may  be  thought  that  he  ought 
to  have  done  so ;  that  his  principles  required  a  stern  opposition 
to  everything  associated  with  the  dispensation  which  had  passed 
away.  He  understood  them  differently,  however,  and  had  a 
good  reason  to  render  for  the  line  he  pursued.  We  find  him 
advising  those  who  were  called  into  the  kingdom  of  Christ  being 
circumcised  not  to  become  uncircumcised,  and  those  called  in 
uncircumcision  not  to  submit  to  circumcision  ;  and  the  reason  he 
gives  is  that  circumcision  is  nothing  and  uncircumcision  is 
nothing.  The  distinction  was  nothing  more  to  him,  in  a  religious 
point  of  view,  than  the  distinction  of  sex  or  the  distinction  of 
slave  and  master.  In  short,  it  had  no  religious  significance  at 
all.  If,  however,  a  man  preferred  Jewish  modes  of  life  as  a  mark 
of  his  nationality,  Paul  had  no  quarrel  with  him  ;  indeed,  in  some 
degree  he  preferred  them  himself.  He  stickled  as  little  against 
mere  forms  as  for  them  ;  only,  if  they  stood  between  the  soul 
and  Christ  or  between  a  Christian  and  his  brethren,  then  he 
was  their  uncompromising  opponent.  But  he  knew  that  liberty 
may  be  made  an  instrument  of  oppression  as  well  as  bondage, 
and  therefore  in  regard  to  meats,  for  instance,  he  penned  those 
noble  recommendations  of  self-denial  for  the  sake  of  weak  and 
scrupulous  consciences  which  are  among  the  most  touching 
testimonies  to  his  utter  unselfishness. 

162.  Indeed,  we  Lave  here  a  man  of  such  heroic  size  that  it  is 
no  easy  matter  to  define  him.  Along  with  the  clearest  vision  of 
the  lines  of  demarcation  between  the  old  and  the  new  in  the 
greatest  crisis  of  human  history  and  an  unfaltering  championship 
of  principle  when  real  issues  were  involved,  we  see  in  him  the 
most  genial  superiority  to  mere  formal  rules  and  the  utmost 
consideration  for  the  feelings  of  those  who  did  not  see  as  he  saw. 
By  one  huge  blow  he  had  cut  himself  free  from  the  bigotry  of 
bondage  ;  but  he  never  fell  into  the  bigotry  of  liberty,  and  had 
always  far  loftier  aims  in  view  than  the  mere  logic  of  his  own 
position. 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  END. 

Paragraphs  163-189. 

163,  164.  Return  to  Jerusalem. 

Prophecy  of  Approaching  Imprisonment. 


166.   Tumult  in  Temple ;    167.   Paul  before  the 
Sanhedrim;  16S.  Plot  of  Zealots. 

169  172.  Imprisonment  at  C.^sarea. 

170.  Providential  Reason  for  this  Confinement. 

171.  Paul's  later  Gospel. 

172.  His  Ethics. 

173-176.  Journey  to  Rome. 

173.  Appeal  to  Ccesar. 

174.  Voyage  to  Italy. 

175.  Arrival  in  Rome. 

176-182.  First  Imprisonment  at  Rome. 

176.  Trial  delayed. 
177-182.  Occupations  of  a  Prison. 

179.  His  Guards  converted;  180.  Visits  of  Apostolic 
Helpers;  181.  Messengers  from  his  Churches; 
182.  His  Writings. 

183-1S8.  Last  Scenes. 

1S5.   Release  from  Prison  ;  New  Journeys. 

186.  Second  Imprisonment  at  Rome. 

187,  188.   Trial  and  Death. 

189.   Epilogue. 


120 


l^ 


CHAPTER   X. 


THE   END. 


163.  After  completing  his  brief  visit  to  Greece  at  the  close  of 
his  third  missionary  journey,  Paul  returned  to  Jerusalem.  He 
must  by  this  time  have  been  nearly  sixty  years  of  age ;  and  for 
twenty  years  he  had  been  engaged  in  almost  superhuman  labours. 
He  had  been  travelling  and  preaching  incessantly,  and  carrying 
on  his  heart  a  crushing  weight  of  cares.  His  body  had  been 
worn  with  disease  and  mangled  with  punishments  and  abuse ; 
and  his  hair  must  have  been  whitened,  and  his  face  furrowed  with 
the  lines  of  age.  As  yet,  however,  there  were  no  signs  of  his 
body  breaking  down,  and  his  spirit  was  still  as  keen  as  ever  in 
its  enthusiasm  for  the  service  of  Christ.  His  eye  was  specially 
directed  to  Rome,  and,  before  leaving  Greece,  he  sent  word  to 
the  Romans  that  they  might  expect  to  see  him  soon.  But,  as  he 
was  hurrying  towards  Jerusalem  along  the  shores  of  Greece  and 
Asia,  the  signal  sounded  that  his  work  was  nearly  done,  and  the 
shadow  of  approaching  death  fell  across  his  path.  In  city  after 
city  the  persons  in  the  Christian  communities  who  were  endowed 
with  the  gift  of  prophecy  foretold  that  bonds  and  imprisonment 
were  awaiting  him,  and  the  nearer  he  came  to  the  close  of  his 
journey  these  warnings  became  more  loud  and  frequent.  He  felt 
their  solemnity ;  his  was  a  brave  heart,  but  it  was  too  humble 
and  reverent  not  to  be  overawed  with  the  thought  of  death  and 
judgment.  He  had  several  companions  with  him,  but  he  sought 
opportunities  of  being  alone.     He  parted  from  his  converts  as  a 

121 


122  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

dying  man,  telling  them  that  they  would  see  his  face  no  more.  But, 
when  they  entreated  him  to  turn  back  and  avoid  the  threatened 
danger,  he  gently  pushed  aside  their  loving  arms,  and  said, 
"  What  mean  ye  to  weep  and  to  break  my  heart  ?  for  I  am 
ready  not  to  be  bound  only,  but  also  to  die  at  Jerusalem  for  the 
name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 

164.  We  do  not  know  what  business  he  had  on  hand  which  so 
peremptorily  demanded  his  presence  in  Jerusalem.  He  had  to 
deliver  up  to  the  apostles  a  collection  on  behalf  of  their  poor  saints, 
which  he  had  been  exerting  himself  to  gather  in  the  Gentile 
churches  ;  and  it  may  have  been  of  importance  that  he  should 
discharge  this  service  in  person.  Or  he  may  have  been  solicitous 
to  procure  from  the  apostles  a  message  for  his  Gentile  churches, 
giving  an  authoritative  contradiction  to  the  insinuations  of  his 
enemies  as  to  the  unapostolic  character  of  his  gospel.  At  all 
events  there  was  some  imperative  call  of  duty  summoning  him, 
and,  in  spite  of  the  fear  of  death  and  the  tears  of  friends,  he  went 
forward  to  his  fate. 

165.  It  was  the  feast  of  Pentecost  when  he  arrived  in  the  city 
of  his  fathers,  and,  as  usual  at  such  seasons,  Jerusalem  was 
crowded  with  hundreds  of  thousands  of  pilgrim  Jews  from  all 
parts  of  the  world.  Among  these  there  could  not  but  be  many 
who  had  seen  him  at  his  work  of  evangelization  in  the  cities  of 
the  heathen  and  come  into  collision  with  him  there.  Their  rage 
against  him  had  been  checked  in  foreign  lands  by  the  interposi- 
tion of  Gentile  authority ;  but  might  they  not,  if  they  met  with 
him  in  the  Jewish  capital,  wreak  on  him  their  vengeance  with  the 
support  of  the  whole  population  ? 

166.  This  was  actually  the  danger  into  which  he  fell.  Certain 
Jews  from  Ephesus,  the  principal  scene  of  his  labours  during  his 
third  journey,  recognised  him  in  the  temple,  and,  crying  out  that 
here  was  the  heretic  who  blasphemed  the  Jewish  nation,  law,  and 
temple,  brought  about  him  in  an  instant  a  raging  sea  of  fanaticism. 
It  is  a    wonder  he  was  not  torn  limb  from   limb  on  the  spot; 


THE    END,  123 

but  superstition  prevented  his  assailants  from  defiling  with  blood 
the  court  of  the  Jews,  in  which  he  was  caught,  and,  before  they 
got  him  hustled  into  the  court  of  the  Gentiles,  where  they  would 
soon  have  despatched  him,  the  Roman  guard,  whose  sentries  were 
pacing  the  castle  ramparts  which  overlooked  the  temple  courts, 
rushed  down  and  took  him  under  their  protection ;  and,  when 
their  captain  learned  that  he  was  a  Roman  citizen,  his  safety  was 
secured. 

167.  But  the  fanaticism  of  Jerusalem  was  now  thoroughly 
aroused,  and  it  raged  against  the  protection  which  surrounded 
Paul  like  an  angry  sea.  The  Roman  captain  on  the  day  after  the 
apprehension  took  him  down  to  the  Sanhedrim  in  order  to  ascer- 
tain the  charge  against  him  ;  but  the  sight  of  the  prisoner  created 
such  an  uproar  that  he  had  to  hurry  him  away,  lest  he  should  be 
torn  in  pieces.  Strange  city  and  strange  people  !  There  was 
never  a  nation  which  produced  sons  more  richly  dowered  with 
gifts  to  make  her  name  immortal ;  there  was  never  a  city  whose 
children  clung  to  her  with  a  more  passionate  affection  ;  yet,  like 
a  mad  mother,  she  tore  the  very  goodliest  of  them  in  pieces  and 
dashed  them  mangled  from  her  breast.  Jerusalem  was  now 
within  a  few  years  of  her  destruction  ;  here  was  the  last  of  her 
inspired  and  prophetic  sons  come  to  visit  her  for  the  last  time, 
with  boundless  love  to  her  in  his  heart ;  but  she  would  have 
murdered  him  ;  and  only  the  shields  of  the  Gentiles  saved  him 
from  her  fury. 

168.  Forty  zealots  banded  themselves  together  under  a  curse 
to  snatch  Paul  even  from  the  midst  of  the  Roman  swords  ;  and 
the  Roman  captain  was  only  able  to  foil  their  plot  by  sending 
him  under  a  heavy  guard  down  to  Cassarea.  This  was  a  Roman 
city  on  the  Mediterranean  coast ;  it  was  the  residence  of  the 
Roman  governor  of  Palestine  and  the  headquarters  of  the  Roman 
garrison  ;  and  in  it  the  apostle  was  perfectly  safe  from  Jewish 
violence. 

169,  PI  ere  he  remained  in  prison  for  two  years.     The  Jewish 


124  1"HE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

authorities  attempted  again  and  again  either  to  procure  his  con- 
demnation by  the  governor  or  to  get  him  dehvered  up  to  them- 
selves to  be  tried  as  an  ecclesiastical  offender ;  but  they  failed 
to  convince  the  Roman  that  Paul  had  been  guilty  of  any  crime  of 
which  he  could  take  cognisance  or  to  hand  over  a  Roman  citizen 
to  their  tender  mercies.  The  prisoner  ought  to  have  been  released, 
but  his  enemies  were  so  vehement  in  asserting  that  he  was  a 
criminal  of  the  deepest  dye  that  he  was  detained  on  the  chance  of 
new  evidence  turning  up  against  him.  Besides,  his  release  was 
prevented  by  the  expectation  of  the  corrupt  governor,  Felix,  that 
the  life  of  the  leader  of  a  religious  sect  might  be  purchased  from 
him  with  a  bribe.  Felix  was  interested  in  his  prisoner  and  even 
heard  him  gladly,  as  Herod  had  listened  to  the  Baptist. 

170.  Paul  was  not  kept  in  close  confinement ;  he  had  at  least 
the  range  of  the  barracks  in  which  he  was  detained.  There  we 
can  imagine  him  pacing  the  ramparts  on  the  edge  of  the 
Mediterranean,  and  gazing  wistfully  across  the  blue  waters  in  the 
direction  of  Macedonia,  Achaia,  and  Ephesus,  where  his  spiritual 
children  were  pining  for  him  or  perhaps  encountering  dangers 
in  which  they  sorely  needed  his  presence.  It  was  a 
mysterious  providence  which  thus  arrested  his  energies  and 
condemned  the  ardent  worker  to  inactivity.  Yet  we  can 
see  now  the  reason  for  it.  Paul  was  needing  rest.  After 
twenty  years  of  incessant  evangelization  he  required  leisure  to 
garner  the  harvest  of  experience.  During  all  that  time  he  had 
been  preaching  that  view  of  the  gospel  which  at  the  commence- 
ment of  his  Christian  career  he  had  thought  out,  under  the 
influence  of  the  revealing  Spirit,  in  the  solitudes  of  Arabia.  But 
he  had  now  reached  a  stage  when,  with  leisure  to  think,  he  might 
penetrate  into  more  recondite  regions  of  the  truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus.  And  it  was  so  important  that  he  should  have  this  leisure 
that,  in  order  to  secure  it,  God  even  permitted  him  to  be  shut  up 
in  prison. 

171.  During  these  two  years  he  wrote  nothing;  it  was  a  time 
of  internal  mental  activity  and  silent  progress.     But,  when  he 


THE    END, 


125 


began  to  write  again,  the  results  of  it  were  at  once  discernible. 
The  Epistles  written  after  this  imprisonment  have  a  mellower 
tone  and  set  forth  a  profounder  view  of  doctrine  than  his  earlier 
writings.  There  is  no  contradiction,  indeed,  or  inconsistency 
between  his  earlier  and  later  views  :  in  Ephesians  and  Colos- 
sians  he  builds  on  the  broad  foundations  laid  in  Romans  and 
Galatians.  But  the  superstructure  is  loftier  and  more  imposing. 
He  dwells  less  on  the  work  of  Christ,  and  more  on  His  person  ; 
less  on  the  justification  of  the  sinner,  and  more  on  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  the  saint.  In  the  gospel  revealed  to  him  in  Arabia  he  had 
set  Christ  forth  as  dominating  mundane  history,  and  shown  His 
first  coming  to  be  the  point  towards  which  the  destinies  of  Jews 
and  Gentiles  had  been  tending.  In  the  gospel  revealed  to  him 
at  Cassarea  the  point  of  view  is  extramundane :  Christ  is  repre- 
sented as  the  reason  for  the  creation  of  all  things,  and  as  the 
Lord  of  angels  and  of  worlds,  to  whose  second  coming  the  vast 
procession  of  the  universe  is  moving  forwards — of  whom,  and 
through  whom,  and  to  whom  are  all  things.  In  the  earlier 
Epistles  the  initial  act  of  the  Christian  life — the  justification  of  the 
soul — is  explained  with  exhaustive  elaboration;  but  in  the  later 
Epistles  it  is  on  the  subsequent  relations  to  Christ  of  the  person 
who  has  been  already  justified  that  the  apostle  chiefly  dwells. 
According  to  his  teaching,  the  whole  spectacle  of  the  Christian 
life  is  due  to  a  union  between  Christ  and  the  soul  ;  and  for  the 
description  of  this  relationship  he  has  invented  a  vocabulary  of 
phrases  and  illustrations :  believers  are  in  Christ,  and  Christ  is  in 
them  :  they  have  the  same  relation  to  him  as  the  stones  of  a 
building  to  the  foundation-stone,  as  the  branches  to  the  tree,  as 
the  members  to  the  head,  as  a  wife  to  her  husband.  This  union 
is  ideal,  for  the  divine  mind  in  eternity  made  the  destiny  of  Christ 
and  the  believer  one  :  it  is  legal,  for  their  debts  and  merits  are 
common  property  :  it  is  vital,  for  the  connection  with  Christ 
supplies  the  power  of  a  holy  and  progressive  life  :  it  is  moral,  for, 
in  mind  and  heart,  in  character  and  conduct,  Christians  are 
constantly  becoming  more  and  more  identical  with  Christ. 


126  THE    LIFE   OF    ST.    PAUL. 

172.  Another  feature  of  these  later  Epistles  is  the  balance 
between  their  theological  and  their  moral  teaching.  This  is 
visible  ev'en  in  the  external  structure  of  the  greatest  of  them,  for 
they  are  nearly  equally  divided  into  two  parts,  the  first  of  which 
is  occupied  with  doctrinal  statements  and  the  second  with  moral 
exhortations.  The  ethical  teaching  of  Paul  spreads  itself  over 
all  parts  of  the  Christian  life  ;  but  it  is  not  distinguished  by  a 
systematic  arrangement  of  the  various  kinds  of  duties,  although  the 
domestic  duties  are  pretty  fully  treated.  Its  chief  characteristic 
lies  in  the  motives  which  it  brings  to  bear  upon  conduct.  To  Paul 
Christian  morality  was  emphatically  a  morality  of  m.otives.  The 
whole  history  of  Christ,  not  in  the  details  of  His  earthly  life,  but 
in  the  great  features  of  His  redemptive  journey  from  heaven  to 
earth  and  from  earth  back  to  heaven  again,  as  seen  from  the 
cxtramundane  standpoint  of  these  Epistles,  is  a  series  of  examples 
to  be  copied  by  Christians  in  their  daily  conduct.  No  duty  is  too 
small  to  illustrate  one  or  other  of  the  principles  which  inspired 
the  divinest  acts  of  Christ.  The  commonest  acts  of  humility  and 
beneficence  are  to  be  imitations  of  the  condescension  which 
brought  Him  from  the  position  of  equality  with  God  to  the 
obedience  of  the  cross ;  and  the  ruling  motive  of  the  love 
and  kindness  practised  by  Christians  to  one  another  is 
to  be  the  recollection  of  their  common  connection  with 
Him. 

173.  After  Paul's  imprisonment  had  lasted  for  two  years,  Felix 
was  succeeded  in  the  governorship  of  Palestine  by  Festus.  The 
Jews  had  never  ceased  to  intrigue  to  get  Paul  into  their  hands, 
and  they  at  once  assailed  the  new  ruler  with  further  impor- 
tunities. As  Festus  seemed  to  be  wavering,  Paul  availed  him- 
self of  his  privilege  of  appeal  as  a  Roman  citizen  and  demanded 
to  be  sent  to  Rome  and  tried  at  the  bar  of  the  emperor.  This 
could  not  be  refused  him ;  and  a  prisoner  had  to  be  sent  to  Rome 
at  once  after  such  an  appeal  was  taken.  Very  soon  therefore 
Paul  was  shipped  off  under  the  charge  of  Roman  soldiers  and  in 


THE    END.  127 

the  company  of  many  other  prisoners  on  their  way  to  the  same 
destination. 

174.  The  journal  of  the  voyage  has  been  preserved  in  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  and  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  most  valuable 
document  in  existence  concerning  the  seamanship  of  ancient 
times.  It  is  also  a  precious  document  of  Paul's  life  ;  for  it  shows 
how  his  character  shone  out  in  a  novel  situation.  A  ship  is  a 
kind  of  miniature  of  the  world.  It  is  a  floating  island,  in  which 
there  are  the  government  and  the  governed.  But  the  government 
is  like  that  of  states  liable  to  sudden  social  upheavals,  in  which 
the  ablest  man  is  thrown  to  the  top.  This  was  a  voyage  of 
extreme  perils,  which  required  the  utmost  presence  of  mind  and 
power  of  winning  the  confidence  and  obedience  of  those  on 
board.  Before  it  was  ended  Paul  was  virtually  both  the  captain 
of  the  ship  and  the  general  of  the  soldiers  ;  and  all  on  board 
Dwed  him  their  lives. 

175.  At  length  the  dangers  of  the  deep  were  left  behind  ;  and 
Paul  found  himself  approaching  the  capital  of  the  Roman  world 
by  the  Appian  Road,  the  great  highway  by  which  Rome  was 
entered  by  travellers  from  the  East.  The  bustle  and  noise 
increased  as  he  neared  the  city,  and  the  signs  of  Roman  grandeur 
and  renown  multiplied  at  every  step.  For  many  years  he  had 
been  looking  forward  to  seeing  Rome,  but  he  had  always  thought 
of  entering  it  in  a  very  different  guise  from  that  which  now  he 
wore.  He  had  always  thought  of  Rome  as  a  successful  general 
thinks  of  thje  central  stronghold  of  the  country  he  is  subduing, 
who  looks  eagerly  forward  to  the  day  when  he  will  direct  the 
charge  against  its  gates.  Paul  was  engaged  in  the  conquest  of 
the  world  for  Christ,  and  Rome  was  the  final  stronghold  he  had 
hoped  to  carry  in  his  Master's  name.  Years  ago  he  had  sent  to 
it  the  famous  challenge,  "  I  am  ready  to  preach  the  gospel  to  you 
that  are  at  Rome  also ;  for  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  gospel 
of  Christ,  for  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one 
that  believeth."    But  now,  when  he  found  himself  actually  at  its 


128  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

gates  and  thought  of  the  abject  condition  in  which  he  was — an 
old,  grey-haired,  broken  man,  a  chained  prisoner  just  escaped 
from  shipwreck,  his  heart  sank  within  him,  and  he  felt  dreadfully- 
alone.  At  the  right  moment,  however,  a  little  incident  took 
place  which  restored  him  to  himself :  at  a  small  town  forty  miles 
out  of  Rome  he  was  met  by  a  little  band  of  Christian  brethren, 
who,  hearing  of  his  approach,  had  come  out  to  welcome  him  ; 
and,  ten  miles  farther  on,  he  came  upon  another  group,  who  had 
come  out  for  the  same  purpose.  Self-reliant  as  he  was,  he  was 
exceedingly  sensitive  to  human  sympathy,  and  the  sight  of  these 
brethren  and  their  interest  in  him  completely  revived  him.  He 
thanked  God  and  took  courage ;  his  old  feelings  came  back  in 
their  wonted  strength,  and  when,  in  the  company  of  these  friends, 
he  reached  that  shoulder  of  the  Alban  Hills  from  which  the  first 
view  of  the  city  is  obtained,  his  heart  swelled  with  the  anticipa- 
tion of  victory ;  for  he  knew  he  carried  in  his  breast  the  force 
which  would  yet  lead  captive  that  proud  city.  It  was  not  with 
the  step  of  a  prisoner,  but  with  that  of  a  conqueror,  that  he 
passed  at  length  beneath  the  city  gate.  His  road  lay  along  that 
very  Sacred  Way  by  which  many  a  Roman  general  had  passed 
in  triumph  to  the  Capitol,  seated  on  a  car  of  victory,  followed  by 
the  prisoners  and  spoils  of  the  enemy,  and  surrounded  with  the 
plaudits  of  rejoicing  Rome.  Paul  looked  little  like  such  a  hero  :  no 
car  of  victory  carried  him,  he  trode  the  causewayed  road  with  way- 
worn foot ;  no  medals  or  ornaments  adorned  his  person,  a  chain  of 
iron  dangled  from  his  wrist ;  no  applauding  crowds  welcomed  his 
approach,  a  few  humble  friends  formed  all  his  escort ;  yet  never 
did  a  more  truly  conquering  footstep  fall  on  the  pavement  of  Rome 
or  a  heart  more  confident  of  victory  pass  beneath  her  gates. 

176.  Meanwhile,  however,  it  was  not  to  the  Capitol  his  steps 
were  bent,  but  to  a  prison  ;  and  he  was  destined  to  lie  in  prison 
long,  for  his  trial  did  not  come  on  for  two  years.  The  law's 
delays  have  been  proverbial  in  all  countries  and  at  all  eras  ;  and 
the  law  of  imperial  Rome  was  not  likely  to  be  free  from  this 
reproach  during  the  reign  of  Nero,  a  man  of  such  frivolity  that 


THE   END. 


129 


any  engagement  of  pleasure  or  freak  of  caprice  was  sufficient  to 
make  him  put  off  the  most  important  call  of  business.  The 
imprisonment,  it  is  true,  was  of  the  mildest  description.  It  may- 
have  been  that  the  officer  who  brought  him  to  Rome  spoke  a 
good  word  for  the  man  who  had  saved  his  life  during  the  voyage, 
or  the  officer  to  whom  he  was  handed  over,  and  who  is  known 
in  profane  history  as  a  man  of  justice  and  humanity,  may  have 
inquired  into  his  case  and  formed  a  favourable  opinion  of  his 
character  ;  but  at  all  events  Paul  was  permitted  to  hire  a  house 
of  his  own  and  live  in  it  in  perfect  freedom,  with  the  single 
exception  that  a  soldier,  who  was  responsible  for  his  person,  wa5 
his  constant  attendant. 

177.  This  was  far  from  the  condition  which  such  an  active 
spirit  would  have  coveted.  He  would  have  liked  to  be  moving 
from  synagogue  to  synagogue  in  the  immense  city,  preaching  in 
its  streets  and  squares,  and  founding  congregation  after  congrega^ 
tion  among  the  masses  of  its  population.  Another  man,  thus 
arrested  in  a  career  of  ceaseless  movement  and  immured  within 
prison  walls,  might  have  allowed  his  mind  to  stagnate  in  sloth 
and  despair.  But  Paul  behaved  very  differently.  Availing  him- 
self of  every  possibility  of  the  situation,  he  converted  his  one 
room  into  a  centre  of  far-reaching  activity  and  beneficence.  On 
the  few  square  feet  of  space  allowed  him  he  erected  a  fulcrum 
with  which  he  moved  the  world,  and  established  within  the  walls 
of  Nero's  capital  a  sovereignty  more  extensive  than  his  own. 

178.  Even  the  most  irksome  circumstance  of  his  lot  was  turned 
to  good  account.  This  was  the  soldier  by  whom  he  was  watched. 
To  a  man  of  Paul's  eager  temperament  and  restlessness  of  mood 
this  must  often  have  been  an  intolerable  annoyance  ;  and,  indeed, 
in  the  letters  written  during  this  imprisonment  he  is  constantly 
referring  to  his  chain,  as  if  it  were  never  out  of  his  mind.  But 
he  did  not  suffer  this  irritation  to  blind  him  to  the  opportunity  of 
doing  good  presented  by  the  situation.  Of  course  his  attendant 
was  changed  every  few  hours,  as  one  soldier  reheved  another 

I 


130  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

upon  guard.  In  this  way  there  might  be  six  or  eight  with  him 
every  four-and-twenty  hours.  They  belonged  to  the  imperial 
guard,  the  flower  of  the  Roman  army.  Paul  could  not  sit  for 
hours  beside  another  man  without  speaking  of  the  subject  which 
lay  nearest  his  heart.  He  spoke  to  these  soldiers  about  their 
immortal  souls  and  the  faith  of  Christ.  To  men  accustomed  to 
the  horrors  of  Roman  warfare  and  the  manners  of  Roman  bar- 
racks nothing  could  be  more  striking  than  a  life  and  character 
like  his  ;  and  the  result  of  these  conversations  was  that  many  of 
them  became  changed  men,  and  a  revival  spread  through  the 
barracks  and  penetrated  into  the  imperial  household  itself.  His 
room  was  sometimes  crowded  with  these  stern,  bronzed  faces, 
glad  to  see  him  at  other  times  than  those  when  duty  required 
them  to  be  there.  He  sympathized  with  them  and  entered  into 
the  spirit  of  their  occupation  ;  indeed,  he  was  full  of  the  spirit  of 
the  warrior  himself.  We  have  an  imperishable  relic  of  these 
visits  in  an  outburst  of  inspired  eloquence  which  he  dictated  at  this 
period  ;  "  Put  on  the  whole  armour  of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able 
to  stand  against  the  wiles  of  the  devil ;  for  we  wrestle  not  against 
flesh  and  blood,  but  against  principalities,  against  powers,  against 
the  rulers  of  the  darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual  wicked- 
ness in  high  places.  Wherefore  take  unto  you  the  whole  armour 
of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  withstand  in  the  evil  day,  and, 
having  done  all,  to  stand.  Stand  therefore,  having  your  loins 
girt  about  with  truth,  and  having  on  the  breastplate  of  righteous- 
ness, and  your  feet  shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  gospel  of 
peace ;  above  all,  taking  the  shield  of  faith,  wherewith  ye  shall 
be  able  to  quench  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked.  And  take  the 
helmet  of  salvation  and  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word 
of  God."  That  picture  was  drawn  from  the  life,  from  the  armour 
of  the  soldiers  in  his  room  ;  and  perhaps  these  ringing  sentences 
were  first  poured  into  the  ears  of  his  warlike  auditors  before  they 
were  transferred  to  the  Epistle  in  which  they  have  been  preserved. 
179.  But  he  had  other  visitors.  All  who  took  an  interest  in 
Christianity  in  Rome,  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  gathered  to  him. 


THE   END. 


131 


Perhaps  there  was  not  a  day  of  the  two  years  of  his  imprison- 
ment but  he  had  such  visitors.  The  Roman  Christians  learned 
to  go  to  that  room  as  to  an  oracle  or  shrine.  Many  a  Christian 
teacher  got  his  sword  sharpened  there ;  and  new  energy  began 
to  diffuse  itself  through  the  Christian  circles  of  the  city.  Many 
an  anxious  father  brought  his  son,  many  a  friend  his  friend, 
hoping  that  a  word  from  the  apostle's  lips  might  waken  the 
sleeping  conscience.  Many  a  wanderer,  stumbling  in  there  by 
chance,  came  out  a  new  man.  Such  an  one  was  Onesimus,  a 
slave  from  Colossoe,  who  arrived  in  Rome  as  a  runaway,  but  was 
sent  back  to  his  Christian  master,  Philemon,  no  longer  as  a  slave, 
but  as  a  brother  beloved. 

180.  Still  more  interesting  visitors  came.  At  all  periods  of  his 
life  he  exercised  a  strong  fascination  over  young  men.  They 
were  attracted  by  the  manly  soul  within  him,  in  which  they  found 
sympathy  with  their  aspirations  and  inspiration  for  the  noblest 
work.  These  youthful  friends,  who  v/ere  scattered  over  the  world 
in  the  work  of  Christ,  flocked  to  him  at  Rome.  Timothy  and 
Luke,  Mark  and  Aristarchus,  Tychicus  and  Epaphras,  and  many 
more  came,  to  drink  afresh  at  the  well  of  his  ever-springing 
wisdom  and  earnestness.  And  he  sent  them  forth  again  to  carry 
messages  to  his  churches,  or  bring  him  news  of  their  condition. 

181.  Of  his  spiritual  children  in  the  distance  he  never  ceased  to 
think.  Daily  he  was  wandering  in  imagination  among  the  glens 
of  Galatia  and  along  the  shores  of  Asia  and  Greece  ;  every  night 
he  was  praying  for  the  Christians  of  Antioch  and  Ephesus,  of 
Philippi  and  Thessalonica  and  Corinth.  Nor  were  gratifying 
proofs  awanting  that  they  were  remembering  him.  Now  and 
then  there  would  appear  in  his  lodging  a  deputy  from  some 
distant  church,  bringing  the  greetings  of  his  converts  or,  perhaps, 
a  contribution  to  meet  his  temporal  wants,  or  craving  his  decision 
on  some  point  of  doctrine  or  practice  about  which  difficulty  had 
arisen.  These  messengers  Avere  not  sent  empty  away  ;  they 
carried  warm-hearted  messages  or  golden  words  of  counsel  from 
their  apostolic  friend.     Some  of  them  carried  far  more.     When 


132  THE   LIFE   OF   ST.    PAUL. 

Epaphroditiis,  a  deputy  from  the  church  at  Philippi,  which  had 
sent  to  their  dear  fatlier  in  Christ  an  offering  of  love,  was 
returning  home,  Paul  sent  with  him,  in  acknowledgment  of  their 
kindness,  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  the  most  beautiful  of 
all  his  letters,  in  which  he  lays  bare  his  very  heart  and  every 
sentence  glows  with  love  more  tender  than  a  woman's.  When 
the  slave  Onesimus  was  sent  back  to  Colossae,  he  received  as  the 
branch  of  peace  to  offer  to  his  master  the  exquisite  little  Epistle 
to  Philemon,  a  priceless  monument  of  Christian  courtesy.  He 
carried  too  a  letter  addressed  to  the  church  of  the  town  in 
which  his  master  lived,  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians.  The 
composition  of  these  Epistles  was  by  far  the  most  important 
part  of  Paul's  varied  prison  activity;  and  he  crowned  this  labour 
with  the  writing  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  which  is  perhaps 
the  profoundest  and  sublimest  book  in  the  world.  The  church 
of  Christ  has  derived  many  benefits  from  the  imprisonment  of 
the  servants  of  God  ;  the  greatest  book  of  uninspired  religious 
genius,  the  Pilgrwi^s  Progress^  was  written  in  a  jail ;  but  never 
did  there  come  to  the  church  a  greater  mercy  in  the  disguise  of 
misfortune  than  when  the  arrest  of  Paul's  bodily  activities  at 
Caesarea  and  Rome  supplied  him  with  the  leisure  needed  to 
reach  the  depths  of  truth  sounded  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians. 

182.  It  may  have  seemed  a  dark  dispensation  of  providence  to 
Paul  himself  that  the  course  of  life  he  had  pursued  so  long  was 
so  completely  changed;  but  God's  thoughts  are  higher  than 
man's  thoughts  and  His  ways  than  man's  ways ;  and  Pie 
gave  Paul  grace  to  overcome  the  temptations  of  his  situation  and 
do  far  more  in  his  enforced  inactivity  for  the  welfare  of  the  world 
and  the  permanence  of  his  own  influence  than  he  could  have 
done  by  twenty  years  of  wandering  missionary  work.  Sitting  in 
his  room,  he  gathered  within  the  sounding  cavity  of  his  sym- 
pathetic heart  the  sighs  and  cries  of  thousands  far  away,  and 
diffused  courage  and  help  in  every  direction  from  his  own 
inexhaustible  resources.    He  sank  his  mind  deeper  and  deeper 


TtlE    END.  133 

in  solitary  thought,  till,  smiting  the  rock  in  the  dim  depth  to 
which  he  had  descended,  he  caused  streams  to  gush  forth  which 
are  still  gladdening  the  city  of  God. 

183.  The  book  of  Acts  suddenly  breaks  off  with  a  brief 
summary  of  Paul's  two  years'  imprisonment  at  Rome.  Is  this 
because  there  was  no  more  to  tell  ?  When  his  trial  came  on 
did  it  issue  in  his  condemnation  and  death  ?  Or  did  he  get  out 
of  prison  and  resume  his  old  occupations  ?  Where  Luke's  lucid 
narrative  so  suddenly  deserts  us,  tradition  comes  in  proffering 
its  doubtful  aid.  It  tells  us  that  he  was  acquitted  on  his  trial 
and  let  out  of  prison  ;  that  he  resumed  his  travels,  visiting 
Spain  among  other  places  ;  but  that  before  long  he  was  arrested 
again  and  sent  back  to  Rome,  where  he  died  a  martyr's  death  at 
the  cruel  hands  of  Nero. 

184.  Happily,  however,  we  are  not  altogether  dependent  on 
the  precarious  aid  of  tradition.  We  have  writings  of  Paul's  own 
undoubtedly  subsequent  to  the  two  years  of  his  first  imprison- 
ment. These  are  what  are  called  the  Pastoral  Epistles — the 
Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus.  In  these  we  see  that  he  regained 
his  liberty  and  resumed  his  employment  of  revisiting  his  old 
churches  and  founding  new  ones.  His  footsteps  cannot,  indeed, 
be  any  longer  traced  with  certainty.  We  find  him  back  at 
Ephesus  and  Troas ;  we  find  him  in  Crete,  an  island  at  which  he 
touched  on  his  voyage  to  Rome  and  in  which  he  may  then  have 
become  interested  ;  we  find  him  exploring  new  territory  in  the 
northern  parts  of  Greece.  We  see  him  once  more,  like  the 
commander  of  an  army  who  sends  his  aides-de-camp  all  over  the 
field  of  battle,  sending  out  his  young  assistants  to  organize  and 
watch  over  the  churches. 

185.  But  this  was  not  to  last  long.  An  event  had  happened 
immediately  after  his  release  from  prison,  which  could  not  but 
influence  his  fate.  This  was  the  burning  of  Rome — an  appalling 
disaster,  the  glare  of  which  even  at  this  distance  makes  the  heart 
shudder.     It  was  probably  a  mad  freak  of  the  malicious  monster 


134  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

who  then  wore  the  imperial  purple.  But  Nero  saw  fit  to  attribute 
it  to  the  Christians,  and  instantly  the  most  atrocious  persecution 
broke  out  against  them.  Of  course  the  fame  of  this  soon  spread 
over  the  Roman  world  ;  and  it  was  not  likely  that  the  foremost 
apostle  of  Christianity  could  long  escape.  Every  Roman 
governor  knew  that  he  could  not  do  the  Emperor  a  more 
pleasing  sei*vice  than  by  sending  Paul  to  him  in  chains. 

1 86.  It  was  not  long,  accordingly,  before  Paul  was  lying  once 
more  in  prison  at  Rome ;  and  it  was  no  mild  imprisonment  this 
time,  but  the  worst  known  to  the  law.  No  troops  of  friends  now 
filled  his  room  ;  for  the  Christians  of  Rome  had  been  massacred 
or  scattered,  and  it  was  dangerous  for  any  one  to  avow  himself  a 
Christian.  We  have  a  letter  written  from  his  dungeon,  the  last 
he  ever  wrote,  the  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  which  affords  us  a 
glimpse  of  unspeakable  pathos  into  the  circumstances  of  the 
prisoner.  He  tells  us  that  one  part  of  his  trial  is  already  over. 
Not  a  friend  stood  by  him  as  he  faced  the  bloodthirsty  tyrant 
who  sat  on  the  judgment-seat.  But  the  Lord  stood  by  him  and 
enabled  him  to  make  the  emperor  and  the  spectators  in  the 
crowded  basilica  hear  the  sound  of  the  gospel.  The  charge 
against  him  had  broken  down.  But  he  had  no  hope  of  escape. 
Other  stages  of  the  trial  had  yet  to  come,  and  he  knew  that 
evidence  to  condemn  him  would  either  be  discovered  or  manu- 
factured. The  letter  betrays  the  miseries  of  his  dungeon.  He 
prays  Timothy  to  bring  a  cloak  he  had  left  at  Troas  to  defend 
him  from  the  damp  of  the  cell  and  the  cold  of  the  winter.  He 
asks  for  his  books  and  parchments,  that  he  may  relieve  the 
tedium  of  his  solitary  hours  with  the  studies  he  had  always  loved. 
But,  above  all,  he  beseeches  Timothy  to  come  himself  ;  for  he 
was  longing  to  feel  the  touch  of  a  friendly  hand  and  see  the  face 
of  a  friend  yet  once  again  before  he  died.  Was  the  brave  heart 
then  conquered  at  last  ?  Read  the  Epistle  and  see.  How  does 
it  begin ?  "I  also  suffer  these  things ;  nevertheless  I  am  not 
ashamed ;  for  I  know  whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded 
that  He  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  Him 


THE    END. 


^35 


against  that  day."  How  docs  it  end?  "I  am  now  ready  to  be 
offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I  have  fought 
a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith. 
Henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness, 
yhich  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day ; 
and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  that  love  His  appearing." 
This  is  not  the  strain  of  the  vanquished. 

187.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  appeared  again  at  Nero's 
bar,  and  this  time  the  charge  did  not  break  down.  In  all  history 
there  is  not  a  more  startling  illustration  of  the  irony  of  human 
life  than  this  scene  of  Paul  at  the  bar  of  Nero.  On  the  judgment- 
seat,  clad  in  the  imperial  purple,  sat  a  man  who  in  a  bad 
world  had  attained  the  eminence  of  being  the  very  worst  and 
meanest  being  in  it  —  a  man  stained  with  every  crime,  the 
murderer  of  his  own  mother,  of  his  wives  and  of  his  best  bene- 
factors ;  a  man  whose  whole  being  was  so  steeped  in  every 
nameable  and  unnameable  vice  that  body  and  soul  of  him  were, 
as  some  one  said  at  the  time,  nothing  but  a  compound  of  mud 
and  blood  ;  and  in  the  prisoner's  dock  stood  the  best  man  the 
world  possessed,  his  hair  whitened  with  labours  for  the  good 
of  men  and  the  glory  of  God.  Such  was  the  occupant  of  the 
seat  of  justice,  and  such  the  man  who  stood  in  the  place  of  the 
criminal. 

188.  The  trial  ended,  Paul  was  condemned  and  delivered  over 
to  the  executioner.  He  was  led  out  of  the  city  with  a  crowd  of 
the  lowest  rabble  at  his  heels.  The  fatal  spot  was  reached  ;  he 
knelt  beside  the  block  ;  the  headsman's  axe  gleamed  in  the  sun 
and  fell ;  and  the  head  of  the  apostle  of  the  world  rolled  down  in 
the  dust. 

189.  So  sin  did  its  uttermost  and  its  worst.  Yet  how  poor  and 
empty  was  its  triumph  !  The  blow  of  the  axe  only  smote  off  the 
lock  of  the  prison  and  let  the  spirit  go  forth  to  its  home  and  to 
its  crown.  The  city  falsely  called  eternal  dismissed  him  with 
execration  from  her  gates;  but  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand 


136  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

welcomed  him  in  the  same  hour  at  the  gates  of  the  city  which  is 
really  eternal.  Even  on  earth  Paul  could  not  die.  He  lives 
among  us  to-day  with  a  life  a  hundredfold  more  influential  than 
that  which  throbbed  in  his  brain  whilst  the  earthly  hull  which 
made  him  visible  still  lingered  on  the  earth.  Wherever  the  feet 
of  them  who  publish  the  glad  tidings  go  forth  beautiful  upon  the 
mountains,  he  walks  by  their  side  as  an  inspirer  and  a  guide  ;  in 
ten  thousand  churches  every  Sabbath  and  on  a  thousand  thousand 
hearths  every  day  his  eloquent  lips  still  teach  that  gospel  of 
which  he  was  never  ashamed ;  and,  wherever  there  are  human 
souls  searching  for  the  white  flower  of  holiness  or  climbing  the 
difficult  heights  of  self-denial,  there  he  whose  life  was  so  pure, 
whose  devotion  to  Christ  was  so  entire,  and  whose  pursuit  of  a 
single  purpose  was  so  unceasing,  is  welcomed  as  the  best  of 
friends. 


^^  ,    X\       \^  bO 


HINTS  TO  TEACHERS  AND  QUESTIONS  FOR 

PUPILS. 

Teacher's  Apparatus. — The  English  theology  of  this  century  has 
no  juster  cause  for  pride  than  the  books  it  has  produced  on  the 
Life  of  Paul.  Perhaps  there  is  no  other  subject  in  which  it  has 
so  outdistanced  all  rivals.  Conybeare  and  Howson's  Life  and 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul  will  probably  always  keep  the  foremost 
place ;  in  many  respects  it  is  nearly  perfect ;  and  a  teacher 
who  has  mastered  it  will  be  sufficiently  equipped  for  his  work 
and  require  no  other  help.  The  works  of  Lewin  and  Farrar 
are  written  on  the  same  lines  ;  the  former  is  rich  in  maps  of 
countries  and  plans  of  towns  ;  and  the  strong  point  of  the  latter 
is  the  analysis  of  Paul's  writings — the  exposition  of  the  mind  of 
Paul.  The  German  books  are  not  nearly  as  valuable  as  these 
three.  Hausrath's  The  Apostle  Paul  is  a  brilliant  performance, 
but  it  is  as  weak  in  handling  the  deeper  things  as  it  is  strong  in 
colouring  up  the  external  and  picturesque  features  of  the  subject. 
Baur's  work  is  an  amazingly  clever  tour  de  force.,  but  it  is  not  so 
much  a  well-proportioned  picture  of  the  apostle,  as  a  prolonged 
paradox  thrown  down  as  a  challenge  to  the  learned.  The  French 
Essay  by  Sabatier  is  highly  spoken  of,  but  I  have  not  seen  it. 
Adolphe  Monod's  Saint  Paul,  a  series  of  five  discourses,  is  an 
inquiry  into  the  secret  of  the  apostle's  life,  written  with  deep 
sympathy  and  glowing  eloquence.  But  the  best  help  is  to  be 
found  in  the  original  sources  themselves — the  cameo-like  pictures 
of  Luke  and  the  self-revelations  of  Paul's  Epistles.  The  latter 
especially,  read  in  the  fresh  translation  of  Conybeare,  will  show 
the  apostle  to  any  one  who  has  eyes  to  see.  Johnstone's  wall-map 
of  Paul's  journeys  is  indispensable  in  the  class-room. 


138  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 


Chapter  I. 

Paragraph  2.  Subject  of  class  essay — Paul  and  the  other 
Apostles  :  Points  of  Connection  and  Contrast. 

5.  Subject  of  class  essay — Relation  of  Christianity  to  Learning 
and  Intellectual  Gifts :  its  Use  of  them  and  its  Independence  of 
them. 

9.    Quote  passages  of  Scripture  in  u<hich  fatil's  destination  to  be  the 
missionary  of  the  Gentiles  is  expressed. 


Chapter  IL 


On  the  external  features  of  the  period  embraced  in  this  chaptcl 
compare  the  corresponding  pages  of  Hausrath  ;  on  the  interna] 
features  see  Principal  Rainy's  lecture  on  Paul  in  The  Evangelical 
Succession  Lectures^  vol.  i. 

14.  On  the  chronology  of  Paul's  life  see  the  notes  at  the  end  of 
Conybeare  and  Howson,  and  Farrar,  ii.  623. 

The  principal  dates  may  be  given  at  this  stage  from  Cony- 
beare and  Howsonj  for  reference  throughout  : — 

36.   Conversion. 

38.   Flight  to  Tarsus. 

44.   Brought  to  Antioch  by  Barnabas. 

48.   First  Missionary  Journey. 

50,   Council  at  Jerusalem. 

51-54.   Second  Missionary  Journey.      I  and  2  Thcssahviians  wxiUqVl 

at  Corinth. 
54-58.  Third  Missionary  Jmirney. 

57.  I  CorintJiiaiis \\{\i{&\\  at  Eplicsus  ;  2  Corinthians,  in  Macedonia; 

Galatians,  at  Corintli. 

58.  Roi>ians  written  at  Corinlh. 
Arrest  at  Jerusalem. 

59.  In  prison  at  Cocsarea. 


HINTS    AND    QUESTIONS.  I39 

60.   Voyage  to  Rome. 

62,  Philemon^  Colossians,  Ep/icsians,  rJiilippians,  written  at  Rome. 

63.  Release  from  prison. 

67.    I  Tiviothy  and  Tiiits  written. 
6S,   In  prison  again  at  Rome.     2  Timof/iy. 
Death. 

15.  The  goat's-hair  cloth  -vvas  called  Ciiicium,  from  the  name  of 
the  province. 

16.  Dean  Howson's  MciapJiors  of  St.  Paul.  Also  Ilausraih, 
p.  15. 

23.   Subject  for  class  essay  :  Paul's  First  Sight  of  Jerusalem. 

27.  A  startling  picture  of  the  state  of  society  in  Jerusalem 
might  be  constructed  from  the  materials  supplied  in  Matt,  xxiii. 

28.  Detailed  comparison  of  the  experience  of  Paul  with  that 
of  Luther  :  their  early  religious  ideas  ;  the  state  of  religion 
around  them  ;  their  failure  to  find  peace  and  their  sufferings  of 
conscience  ;  their  discovery  of  the  righteousness  of  God. 

On  the  religious  associations  of  Paul's  early  life  see  the  first 
100  pages  of  Reuss'  Christian  Theology  ifi  the  Apostolic  Age. 

31.  On  the  history  of  Christianity  between  the  death  of  Christ 
and  the  conversion  of  St.  Paul  see  Dykes'  F7-oin  Jerusalem  to 
A?itioch. 

34.  The  question  whether  Paul  was  married.  His  views  on  the 
subject  of  the  place  of  woman. 

35.  Perhaps  Acts  xxvi.  11  may  not  imply  that  any  of  the 
Christians  yielded  to  his  endeavours  to  make  them  blaspheme. 

15.  What  ivas  the  Latin  name  for  a  toivn  enjoying  the  political 

privileges  possessed  l)y  Tarsns? 

16.  What  are  PatiV s principal  vietaphois  ? 

1 7.  Where  docs  he  make  this  boast  ? 

19.  IV hat  zaas  the  Latin  name  for  the  Roman  citizenship,  and  ivhat 

privileges  did  it  inclnde  ?  On  what  occasiojis  is  Paul  recorded 
to  have  ttsed  it?  On  what  occasions  might  he  have  been 
expected  to  use  it,  when  he  omitted  to  do  so  ?  What  reasons 
may  be  given  for  the  omission  ? 

20.  Name  friends  of  Pant  who  were  mgagcd  in  the  same  trade  as  he. 


140  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

21.  Give  Fa  til's  qiiotafions  from  the  Greek  poets.     Do  you  hnoiv  the 

authors  he  quoted  from  ?     Explain  Septuagint  and  Diaspora. 

22.  Where  does  Paul  refer  to  the  sophists  and  rhetoricians  ? 

26.  Make  a  collection  of  Pauts  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament, 

shozving  ivhence  each  of  them  xvas  taken, 
28.    What  does  Paul  mean  by  the  Law  ? 

32.    Tj-ace  out  the  points  of  contact  betzveen  the  language  and  views  of 
Stephen^ s  speech  and  those  of  Paul, 
Explain — 

"  Si  Stephanus  non  or  asset, 
Ecclesia  Paulum  non  habcret.^'' 

34.  Whe)  e  is  it  said  that  Paul  voted  in  the  Sanhedrim  ? 

35.  Collect  PauVs  refa-ences  to  the  persecution  and  bring  out  how 

severe  it  was. 


Chapter  III. 


On  Paul's  mental  processes  before  and  at  the  time  of  his 
conversion  see  Principal  Rainy's  lecture,  already  quoted. 

The  conversion  of  Paul  is  one  of  the  strong  apologetic  positions 
of  Christianity.     See  this  worked  out  in  Lyttelton's  Co?iversio?i  of 
St.  Paul.    But  it  might  be  worked  out  afresh  on  more  modern 
lines. 

40.  Principal  Rainy,  in  the  lecture  above  referred  to,  says  that 
he  sees  no  evidence  of  such  a  conflict  as  this  in  Paul's  mind  ;  but 
what,  then,  is  the  meaning  of  "  It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against 
the  pricks  "  ? 

41.  The  general  tenor  of  the  earliest  Christian  apologetic,  as  it 
is  to  be  found  in  the  speeches  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

45.  Nothing  could  be  more  alien  to  the  spirit  of  the  New 
Testament  than  to  turn  this  round  the  other  way,  and,  assuming 
that  what  Paul  saw  was  only  a  vision,  argue  that  the  other 
appearance^  of  Christ,  because  they  are  put  on  the  same  level, 
may   have   been    only  visions   too.     This   is   a  mere  stroke  of 


HINTS   AND   QUESTIONS.  14I 

dialectical  cleverness,  which  shows  no  regard  to  the  obvious 
intention  of  the  writers. 

There  are  three  accounts  of  the  conversion  of  Paul  in  the  Acts.      What 

is  the  significance  of  this  reduplication  in  so  S77iall  a  book  ? 

Enumerate  the  differences  between  these  accounts^  and  explain 

them. 
38.   Prove  that  the  first  Christians  called  Christianity  THE   WAY, 

and  explain  the  signification  of  this  name. 


Chapter  IV. 


On  the  subject  of  this  chapter  see  the  relevant  portions  of  any 
of  the  Handbooks  on  New  Testament  Theology — Weiss,  Reuss, 
Schmid,  van  Oosterzee  ;  also  Neander's  Planting  of  Christianity^ 
and  Pfleiderer's  Paulinismiis.  Hausrath's  sketch  is  so  out  of 
proportion  as  to  be  really  a  caricature.  Weiss'  exposition  is 
perhaps  the  most  solid  and  trustworthy.  He  divides  Paulinism 
into  four  sections  : — 

I.  The  Earliest  Gospel  of  Paul  during  the  Heathen 
Mission  (gathered  from  Thessalonians).  One  chapter — the 
Gospel  as  the  Way  of  Deliverance  from  Judgment. 
n.  The  Doctrinal  System  of  the  Four  great  Doctrinal 
AND  Controversial  Epistles  (Corinthians,  Romans, 
Galatians).  Ch.  i.  Universal  Sinfulness  of  Man ;  ch.  ii. 
Heathenism  and  Judaism  ;  ch.  iii.  Prophecy  and  Fulfilment  ; 
ch.  iv.  Christology  ;  ch.  v.  Redemption  and  Justification  ; 
ch.  vi.  The  New  Life  ;  ch.  vii.  The  Doctrine  of  Predestina- 
tion ;  ch.  viii.  The  Doctrine  of  the  Church ;  ch.  ix.  The 
Last  Things. 

IH.  The  Development  of  Doctrine  in  the  Epistles  written 
in  Prison  (Colossians,  Ephesians,  Philippians,  Philemon). 
Ch.  i.  The  Pauline  Foundations  ;  ch.  ii.  Further  Develop- 
ment of  Doctrine. 

IV.  The  Teaching  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles.  One  chapter- 
Christianity  as  Doctrine. 


142  THE   LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

52.  Luther  in  the  Warlburg. 

54-65.  As  these  paragraphs  are  nothing  but  a  paraphrase  of 
Rom.  i.-viii.,  pupils  ought  to  be  asked  to  compare  with  them  the 
corresponding  paragraphs  of  the  Epistle. 

65.  On  Paul's  Psychology  see  the  Handbooks  of  Delitzsch  and 
Ccck  :  also  Heard,  The  Tripartite  Nature  of  Man,  and  Laidlaw, 
The  Bible  Doctrine  of  Man. 

51,    WJierc  docs  Paul  incniioJi  Jiis  jonrmy  to  Arabia  ? 

56.    JVhat  is  the  connection  betiaeen  moral  and  intellectual  degeneracy! 

62.    IVhere  does  Paul  speak  of  the  gospel  as  a  '■''  mystery,''''  and  what 

doe^he  mean  by  this  woi'd? 
65.  Does  Paul  divide  Imman  nature  into  two  or  into  three  sec/ions  ? 

Do  you  know  the  theological  na7nes  j'or  these  alternatives  ? 

Does  Paul  regard  the  tmregenerate  man  as  possessing  the  part 

of  human  Jiattire  wJiich  he  calls  "  spirit "  ? 
»'     ^"j.^ Enumerate  the  inciTtmtsSf  ChrisCs  earthly  lipe  referred  to  by 

Paul. 


Chapter  V. 


On  this  subject  sec  the  first  two  chapters  of  Conybeare  and 
Howson  ;  Neiu  Testainent  Ti?nes  of  Hausrath  or  Schiirer. 

72.  Subject  of  class  essay  :  The  Origin  and  Significance  of  the 
name  "  Christian." 

72.  By  what  other  iiames  were  the  Christians  called  in  Ne7u  Testa- 
ment times,  among  themselves  or  among  tJieir  enemies  ? 

78.  What  did  the  Greeks,  the  Romans,  and  the  fezas  severally  contri- 
bute to  Christianity  ? 


HINTS    AND    QUESTIONS. 


143 


Chapter  VI. 

The  aim  of  this  Handbook,  as  of  TJie  Life  of  Jesus  Christ  in 
the  same  scries,  being  to  show  at  a  single  glance  the  general 
course  of  the  life  and  the  principal  objects  it  touched,  a  good 
many  details  have  been  omitted.  This  is  especially  the  case  in 
this  chapter  and  in  chapter  x.  The  omissions  cause  those  great 
features  to  stand  out  more  prominently  which  details  are  apt  to 
obscure.  In  this  chapter  an  endeavour  has  been  made  to  show 
in  this  way  what  were  the  different  regions  into  which  the  apostle 
travelled,  and  what  the  peculiarities  and  the  extent  of  the  work 
he  did  in  each.  But  in  an  extended  Bible  Class  course  the 
lessons  will  naturally  go  more  into  detail  and  perhaps  the 
incidents  which  took  place  in  each  town  may  generally  form  a 
lesson.  Here,  therefore,  and  at  the  beginning  of  chap,  x.,  a  few 
hints  may  be  given  of  the  viewpoints  for  the  lessons,  in  so  far  as 
they  are  not  already  given  in  the  text. 


Acts       xiii.    1-12.   P'irst  Footsteps  of  Christian  INIissioas. 

,,     14-52.  Anlioch.     Paul's  Missionary  INIetliod. 

.\iv.    1-6.   Iconiiiiii.     x\.mong  the  Jews. 

,,       6-20.  Lystra.     Among  the  Heathen. 

,,     21-28.   Paul  as  a  Pastor. 

XV.   Paul  as  an  Ecclesiastic. 

xvi.    1-6.   The  New  Companion. 

,,       6-10.  Opening  up  Virgin  Soil. 

,,      12-40.   Philippi.     Transfiguration  and  Disfiguration  of 

Humanity. 
xvii.    1-9.    Thcssaloiiica.     An  Honourable  Reproach. 

,,      10-14.    Eeroca.     See  the  text. 

>>     15-34'       Athens.  The     Gospel     and     Intellectual 

Curiosity, 
xviii.    1--3.    Corinth.     Paul's  earthly  Home. 

,,       4-17.    The    Missionaiy's    Discouragements   and    En- 
couragements. 

,,     23-2S.   A  polished  Shaft  in  God's  Quiver, 
xix.      Ephcsiis.       See    the    text.      Also,    Conflict   of   Chris- 
tianity with  Vested  Interests  and  Mob  Violence. 


144  THE   LIFE   OF   ST.    PAUL. 

79.  Howson's  Companions  of  St.  Paul. 

81.  A  minute  inspection  of  Acts  xiii.  9  will  confirm  the  view 
here  given  of  the  change  of  name,  though  it  is  difficult  to  get 
quit  of  the  idea  that  the  conversion  of  the  governor,  who  bore  the 
same  name,  had  something  to  do  with  it. 

84.  On  the  worship  of  the  synagogue  see  Farrar's  Life  of 
Christy  \.  220. 

89.  On  the  Council  of  Jerusalem,  which  took  place  between  the 
first  and  second  journey,  see  ch.  ix. 

93.  What  is  here  said  of  the  plan  of  the  Acts  explains  still 
more  strikingly  the  meagreness  of  the  record  of  the  third  journey. 

97.  Beroea  was  to  the  south  of  the  Via  Egnatia. 

99.  Subject  of  class  essay  :  The  Influence  of  Christianity  on 
the  Lot  of  Woman. 

103.  Subject  of  class  essay  :  Paul  at  Athens. 

104.  Subject  of  class  essay  :  Paul  and  Socrates. 

113,  A  strong  argument  against  the  mythical  theory  of  the 
miracles  of  our  Lord  may  be  constructed  from  the  paucity  of 
the  miracles  attributed  to  Paul.  If  that  age  naturally  wove 
miraculous  legends  round  great  names,  why  did  it  not  encircle 
Paul  with  a  continuous  web  of  miracle  ?  and  why  does  the  New 
Testament  admit  that  the  Baptist  worked  no  miracle .'' 

79.   Give  a  list  of  PauVs  companions  and  f  lends  mentioned  in  the 

New  Testament. 
84.    What  we}'e  the  charges  geiterally  hroiight  against  him  before  the 

authorities  ? 
90.    Where  in  his  tvritings  does  he  mention  Barnabas  and  Mark  ? 

93.  Give  the  places  in  Acts  where  the  items  of  this  catalogue  are  recorded. 

94.  Mention  other  classical  associations  of  this  region. 

98.    What  two  kings  of  Macedonia  aj'e  famous  in  history? 

102.  Expand  these  allusions  to  Greek  history. 

103.  Give  a  number  of  the  names  associated  with  the  golden  age  of 

Athens  and  mention  xohat  they  ivere  famous  for. 
loS.  Find  out  all  the  visions  mentioned  in  Paul's  life,  and  prove  that 

they  were  given  him  at  the  crises  of  his  history. 
110.  Distinguish  our  Asia  and  Asia  Minor  f-om  the  Asia  of  the  New 
Testament, 


HINTS   AND   QUESTIONS.  145 


Chapter  VII. 

In  the  chronological  table,  p.  138,  the  dates  of  the  Epistles 
have  already  been  given  and  the  points  of  the  history  indicated 
where  they  come  in.  It  is  a  pity  the  Epistles  are  not  arranged 
in  chronological  order  in  our  Bibles.  Their  characteristics  may 
be  mentioned  : — 

I  and  2  Thessalonians.      Simple  beginnings.     Attitude  to  Christ's 
second  coming. 

1  Corinthians.     Picture  of  an  apostolic  churchc 

2  Corinthians.     Paul's  portrait  of  himself. 
Galatians.     Vehement  polemic  against  Judaizers. 
Romans.     Paul's  gospel. 

Phileifion.     Example  of  Christian  courtesy. 
Colossians  and  Ephesians.     Paul's  later  gospel. 
Philippians.     Picture  of  Roman  imprisonment. 

1  Timothy  and  Tittis.     Form  of  the  church. 

2  Timothy.     The  last  scenes. 

118.  On  Paul's  style  see  Farrar's  Excursus  at  the  close  of  vol.  i. 
The  comparison  of  it  to  that  of  Thucydides  is  more  dignified 
than  that  of  the  text,  but  less  true. 

119.  Inspiration  did  not  interfere  with  natural  characteristics 
of  style.  It  made  the  writer  not  less  but  more  himself,  while  of 
course  it  imparted  to  the  products  of  his  pen  a  divine  worth  and 
authority. 

120-127.  Howson's  Character  of  St.  Paidj  Hausrath,  45-57  ; 
Baur's  remarks  (ii.  294  ff.)  on  his  intellectual  character  are 
very  good.  But  the  principal  sources  are  2  Corinthians  and 
Acts  XX. 

122.  Farrar's  treatment  of  Paul's  bodily  infirmities  is  a  serious 
blot  on  his  book.  They  are  obtruded  with  a  frequency  and 
exaggeration  which  produce  an  impression  quite  different  from 
that    made    by  the   references  to  them   in   Scripture.      For    a 

K 


146  THE    LIFE   OF    ST.    PAUL. 

treatment  of  the  same  subject,  realistic,  but  full  of  sympathy  and 
delicacy,  see  Monod. 

122  fif.   Ilhtsirate  these  paragraphs  Jiilly  from  Scripture. 
123.    Compare  Paul  ivith  Livingstone  and  other  missionaries. 


Chapter  VIII. 

On  this  subject  compare  Neander's  Platiting  of  Christianity^ 
Book  ii.  ch.  7,  and  Schaff's  Cimrch  History j  also  Bannerman's 
Church  of  Christ.  This  chapter  is  only  a  piecing  together  of  the 
information  scattered  through  i  Corinthians.  It  would  be  well 
to  get  pupils  to  seek  out  the  passages  of  the  Epistle  which 
correspond  to  the  different  paragraphs.  A  picture  of  a  Pauline 
church  of  a  later  date  might  be  compiled  in  thesame  way  from 
the  Pastoral  Epistles, 

136.  The  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  revealed  "  at  sundry 
times  and  in  divers  manners,"  and  the  complete  doctrine  is  to  be 
obtained  by  uniting  the  representations  of  the  various  writers  of 
Scripture.  In  the  New  Testament  there  are  four  phases — i.  In 
the  Synoptical  Gospels  the  Holy  Spirit  is  set  forth  in  His  influence 
on  the  human  nature  of  Christ ;  2.  in  the  Acts  and  Paul,  as  the 
power  for  founding  the  church  and  converting  the  world ;  3.  in 
Paul  as  the  principle  of  the  new  life  of  Christians  ;  4.  in  John  as 
the  Comforter. 

138.  Compare  the  irregularities  of  other  periods  of  vast  change, 
e.g.  the  Reformation. 

144.  On  the  extent  to  which  an  authoritative  ecclesiastical 
system  is  given  in  the  New  Testament  compare  Jus  Diviniim 
Presbyterii  and  Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity. 

130.  Give  the  names  of  the  principal  gctmes  of  ancient  times,  derived 

from  the  places  zuhere  they  were  held, 

131.  Where  are  churches  mentioned  as  meeting  in  the  houses  of  indi- 

viduals ? 

132.  Explain  the  %vords  ^^  barbarian,''  ^^  Scythian,'''  in  Col.  iii.  1 1. 


HINTS   AND   QUESTIONS.  1 47 

135'  What  modern  divine  endeavoured  to  revive  these  phenomena,  arid 
zuhat  is  the  name  of  the  church  he  founded?  What  is  the 
meaning  of  the  luord  ^'  charism''  ?  Were  the  tongues  of 
Pentecost  the  same  as  those  of  i  Corinthians  ?  Give  instances 
in  which  Nexu  Testament  prof  hets  did  predict  future  evetits. 


Chapter  IX. 


The  criticism  which  seeks  to  disintegrate  the  New  Testament 
writings  and  set  the  apostles  against  one  another  is  founded  on  a 
revival  of  the  claim  of  the  Judaizers  that  their  propaganda  had 
the  "sanction  of  Peter  and  the  other  original  apostles.  In  a 
Handbook  like  this  it  is  impossible  to  discuss  at  any  length  the 
Tubingen  Theory.  But  some  of  its  points  are  silently  met  in  the 
text ;  and  the  whole  theory  is  met  by  an  attempt  to  give  a  view 
of  the  course  of  the  controversy  which  covers  all  the  facts.  The 
distinction  drawn  in  paragraphs  159  ff.  between  the  central 
question  in  dispute  and  a  subordinate  aspect  of  the  controversy 
will  be  found  to  clear  up  many  intricacies.  Compare  Sorley's 
Jewish  Christians  and  Judaism. 

This  chapter  is  full  of  references  to  passages  in  Acts  and 
Galatians,  which  pupils  ought  to  be  asked  to  produce. 


Chapter  X. 


Viewpoints  for  lessons  on  details   omitted  or  only  slightly 
referred  to  in  the  text : — 

Acts       XX.     4-16.  Paul  the  Hirer  of  Labourers  for  Christ's  Vine- 
yard :  the  Unwearied  Preacher  ( Troas). 
,f         J  J    17-3S.  ThQ  M&n  of  He&xt  {Miletus). 


148  THE    LIFE    OF    ST.    PAUL. 

Acts    xxii.     Final  Effort  to  save  his  Country. 

xxiii.     i-io.  In  the  Dock  where  he  had  placed  others, 
xxiv.  22-27.  The  Preacher  of  Righteousness. 
xxvi.  The  Inspired  Student. 
xxvii.   Paul  as  a  Ruler  of  Men. 
xxviii.  The  Benevolence  of  Nature  and  that  of  Grace  {Malia). 

171.  See  notes  on  ch.  iv.  p.  141. 

The  authenticity  of  Ephesians  and  Colossians  can  only  be 
denied  by  ignoring  the  impression  of  majesty  and  profundity 
which  they  have  made  on  the  greatest  minds.  (See  the  Intro- 
ductions in  Meyer  and  Alford.)  What  other  mind  of  those  ages 
except  Paul's  could  have  erected  a  structure  so  magnificent  on 
the  very  foundations  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans ;  or  in  what 
other  mind  was  there  such  a  union  of  the  doctrinal  and  the 
ethical ? 

171.  In  John's  writings  the  relation  of  believers  to  Christ  is 
illustrated  by  a  far  higher  comparison  :  it  is  compared  to  the 
union  of  Father  and  Son  in  the  Deity. 

172.  See  Ernesti :  The  Ethic  of  Paul. 
174.  See  Smith's  Voyage  of  St.  Paul. 
176.  Burrus,  the  Prcetorian  Prefect. 

On  the  various  kinds  of  imprisonment  in  Roman  Law  see 
Ramsay's  Eoinan  Antiquities^  ch.  ix. 

177-182.  The  materials  for  this  account  of  Paul's  prison  life  at 
Rome  are  chiefly  gathered  from  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians. 

184.  On  the  genuineness  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  see  Farrar's 
note,  ii.  607.  The  comparative  lack  of  doctrinal  matter  in  them 
is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  they  were  written  to  ministers 
well  acquainted  with  his  doctrinal  system. 

164.    Trace  out  the  different  collections  which  Patil  is  recorded  to  have 

been  engaged  with. 
166.    What  were  the  courts  of  the  temple  ;  and  what  was  the  name  of 

the  Roman  fortress  luhich  overlooked  them  ? 
171.  Hozu  often  does  the  phrase  "  in  Christ  "  {or  "  in  "  with  pronouns 

referring  to  Christ)  occur  in  Ephesians  ? 


HINTS   AND   QUESTIONS.  149 

172.   Give  examples  from  PauVs  writings  of  the  application  of  great 

principles  to  small  dttties. 
175.   Give  the  names  and  localities  of  other  great  Roman  roads. 

Describe  a  Roman  triumph. 
179.  Narrate  the  story  of  Onesimtis,  gathering  it  from  the  Epistle  to 

Philemon. 
184.  Explain  the  name  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles. 


MORRISON  AND  GIBB,  EDINBURGH, 
PRINTERS  TO  HER  MAJESTY'S  STATIONERY  OFFICE. 


i'l'nfi"?!   ^''^°'°9'"'  Semmary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01145  4503 


Date  Due 

MY  10-54 

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